ma 


I 


TO  SING 


HOW  TO  SING  A  SONG 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


HOW  TO  SING  A  SONG 

THE  ART  OF  DRAMATIC  AND 
LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

BY 

YVETTE   GUILBERT 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 


AND  MANS  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1918 

All  rights  resvrvtd 


COPTBI&HT,  1918, 

BT  TVETTE  GUILBERT. 


Set  up  and  electrotyft«i.  .Published  October,  1918. 


Xnrtaiooti  \3rrss 

J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


I   DEDICATE   THIS   BOOK 
TO     MY     DEAR    FRIENDS 

ALICE  AND  IEENE  LEWISOHN 

IN   AFFECTIONATE    ADMIRATION 

OF   THEIR    CREATION 
THE    NEIGHBORHOOD    PLAYHOUSE 

YVETTE  GUILBERT 

YOBK,  AUGUST,  1918 


2082945 


PREFACE 

Verily  I  say  unto  you : 
One  must  never  be  discouraged  ! 
Never  be  discouraged  at  learning ! 
Never  be  discouraged  by  difficulties ! 
Never  be  discouraged,  when  progress  is  slow, 
Never  be  discouraged,  where  success  lags ! 
Never  be  discouraged  by  the  indifference  of  the 

crowd, 
Never   be   discouraged    by   the   ignorance   of   the 

crowd ! 
Never  be  discouraged  at  the  lack  of  comprehension 

of  whosoever  it  may  be ! 

Never  be  discouraged  through  the  faults  of  others, 
Never  be  discouraged  through  your  own  fault ! 

All  comes  to  those  who  will,  that  all  shall  come  — 
God  does  not  admit  that  good  and  fine  efforts  should 

be  in  vain  — 
An  artist  is  a  priest  —  a  divine  servant ! 

The  Bible  says  unto  the  children  of  Israel : 
"There  is  a  time  for  every  thing, 
A  time  for  peace  — 
And  a  time  for  war  — 
A  time  for  sorrow 
And  a  time  for  rejoicing  — 
vii 


viii  PREFACE 

A  time  for  health  — 
And  a  time  for  sickness  — 
A  time  for  poverty  — 
And  a  time  for  wealth  — 
A  time  to  work  — 
And  a  time  to  rest  — 
A  time  to  weep  — 
And  a  time  to  laugh ! 


And  I  say  unto  the  artist :  Courage ! 
There  is  a  time  for  our  defeats, 
A  time  for  our  victories ! 
On  condition  that  there  be : 

A  time  to  look  — 
A  time  to  listen  — 
A  time  to  love  — 
A  time  to  suffer  — 
A  time  to  endure  — 
A  time  to  forgive  — 
A  time  to  learn  — 
A  time  to  understand  — 
—  A  time  to  absorb  — 
A  time  to  digest  — 
A  time  to  reflect  — 
A  time  to  mature  — 
A  time  to  bloom  — 
A  time  to  expand  — 
A  time  to  create  — 
A  time  to  reproduce  — 
A  time  to  sow  — 

And  then  will  come  the  time  to  reap ! 


K PREFACE 

What  is  an  artist's  life? 

„— A  time  when  you  are  dependent  on  others  — 
~"A  time  when  others  are  dependent  on  you ! 
—A  time  when  the  populace  despises  you  — 
A  time  when  you  despise  the  populace ! 
A  time  when  the  artist  knocks  in  vain  at  the  gates 

of  Art  - 

A  time  when  Art  shelters  the  artist ! 
A  time  when  money  insults  the  artist  — 
A  time  when  the  artist  insults  money ! 
A  time  when  the  wbrlrof  an  artist  is  obtainable  for 

a  few  cents, 
o  A  tune  when  untold  millions  could  not  purchase 

that  same  work ! 
A  tune  when,  through  the  fault  of  the  nation,  artists 

perish  — 

A  time  when,  through  the  lack  of  artists,  the  nation 
ty      perishes ! 

A  time  when  your  native  town  makes  your  reputa- 
tion — 
A  tune  when  you  make  the  reputation  of  your 

town! 
A  tune  when,   being   envied   by   too   many,   you 

suffer  — 

A  time  when,  being  envied  by  too  few,  you  suffer ! 
A  time  when  you  are  a  unit  — 
A  time  when  you  are  multiple ! 
A  time  when  you  will  specialize  — 
A  time  when  you  will  universalize ! 
A  time  when  you  will   be  the  prisoner  of   your 

formula  — 
A  time  when  you  will  escape  from  your  formula ! 


x  PREFACE 

There  is : 

A  time  when  your  reputation  makes  your  talent  — 

A  time  when  your  talent  makes  your  reputation ! 

A  time  when  your  renown  is  greater  than  your 
genius  — 

A  time  when  your  genius  is  greater  than  your  re- 
nown! 

A  time  when  your  efforts  are  so  low  that  the  crowd 
can  reach  them  — 

A  time  when  your  efforts  are  so  high  that  they  sur- 
pass the  crowd ! 

There  is : 

A  time  when  nothing  counts  except  what  you  do  — 

A  time  when  what  you  do  counts  for  nothing ! 

There  is : 

A  time  when  you  fancy  you  are  weary  of  effort  — 
A  time  which  calls  out  to  you :  Still  greater  efforts 
in  your  effort ! 

There  is : 

A  time  when  it  seems  you  have  nothing  more  to 

say  — 
A  time  which  cries  out  to  you :  Fool,  does  life  ever 

stop? 

There  is : 

A  time  which  disgusts  you  with  the  present  — 
A  time  which  cries  out  to  you :   And  what  of  the 
past! 

There  is : 

A  time  which  says  to  you :   Ah,  we  know  of  what 

has  gone  by  — 
A  time  which  cries  out  to  you :  What  of  the  future? 


PREFACE  ri 

There  is : 

A  time  for  meditation  .  .  .  the  fear  of  Time  .  .  . 
in  face  of  the  formidable  task  to  be  accom- 
plished — 

A  time  which  cries  out  to  you :  Lose  not  your  time 
in  looking  at  the  clock !  WORK ! ! 


CONTENTS 

PAGH 

INTRODUCTION xv 

1.  THE  SPECIAL  VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  NECESSARY  TO 

A  SINGER  OF  SONGS,  AS  COMPARED  TO  THAT  OF 

AN  OPERATIC  SINGER 1 

2.  How  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  THE  TEXT      22 

3.  How  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE          ...      36 

4.  THE  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  FORMS 

OF  TRAGEDY 50 

5.  THE  COMIC  SPIRIT.    THE  EXPRESSION  OF  JOY 

AS     CHARACTERIZED     IN     COLORS  —  GRAY, 
PURPLE,  AND  RED 59 

6.  THE  PLASTIC  ART 73 

7.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FACULTY  OF  OB- 

SERVATION       98 

8.  MUSICAL  RHYTHM 104 

9.  THE  EURHYTHMIC  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  BODY    110 

10.  THE  SCIENCE  OF  TEMPO  IN  DECLAMATION      .    118 

11.  How  TO  ACQUIRE  FACIAL  MIMICRY         .        .    127 

12.  ABOUT  MAGNETISM  AND  CHARM.    THE  SOUL 

THAT  MUST  ANIMATE  THE  TRUE  ARTIST      .    130 


xm 


INTRODUCTION 

Two  elements  must  be  conjoined  in  any  veritable 
work  of  art,  —  first,  something  to  say,  and  second, 
an  ability  to  say  it  by  means  of  some  articulate 
method  of  expression. 

The  first  element  is  original  and  incommunicable ; 
it  exists  or  it  does  not  exist;  and  nothing  can  be 
done  to  stimulate  or  stay  it.  It  is,  indeed,  an 
aspect  of  that  "wisdom"  of  which  Walt  Whitman 
has  so  eloquently  said,  — 

"Wisdom  cannot  be  pass'd  from  one  having  it,  to 

another  not  having  it; 
Wisdom  is  of  the  Soul,  is  not  susceptible  of  proof, 

is  its  own  proof ;  .  .  . 
Something  there  is  in  the  float  of  the  sight  of 

things  that  provokes  it  out  of  the  Soul." 

Wisdom  is  the  fruit  of  character ;  and  character  can- 
not be  taught.  It  must  grow  endogenously  like  a 
tree,  with  roots  long  nourished  in  the  soil  of  observa- 
tion and  experience.  The  character  of  any  man  at 
any  moment  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  remem- 
bered record  of  all  that  he  has  ever  been.  To  have 
something  to  say,  it  is  necessary  to  have  lived,  and 
to  be  able  to  remember. 

But  the  second  essential  element  of  art  —  an 
ability  to  say  things  —  can  and  must  be  learned, 

XV 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

and  can  be  taught.  It  will  not  grow  up  of  itself, 
as  a  component  part  of  character,  however  longingly 
it  may  be  watched  and  waited  for.  It  can  be  ac- 
quired only  by  hard  labor  and  incessant  practice; 
but  this  labor  may  be  lightened  by  following  the 
precepts  and  examples  of  great  artists  who  have 
gone  before.  In  each  of  the  arts,  there  is  a  codified 
technique  which  is  known  to  every  sound  practitioner 
and  is  passed  down  from  generation  to  generation. 
Raphael  was  a  pupil  of  Perugino,  and  Rubens  was 
the  teacher  of  Van  Dyck. 

The  average  aspirant,  in  the  eager  period  of  early 
youth,  is  inclined  to  worry  overmuch  about  the 
things  he  has  to  say,  whereas  these  things  are  very 
likely  to  be  negligible.  Except  in  rare  instances, 
like  that  of  Keats,  it  may  be  assumed  that  nobody 
has  anything  to  say  till  after  he  is  thirty ;  and  while 
the  tree  of  character  is  growing,  it  is  best  to  leave  it 
alone  and  not  to  pluck  it  up  continually  for  the  pur- 
pose of  inspecting  its  roots.  The  years  of  youth  may 
be  more  profitably  spent  in  learning  the  technique 
of  some  articulate  medium  of  expression.  Granted 
the  initial  gift  of  talent,  an  apprentice,  in  the  decade 
of  his  twenties,  can  learn  by  constant  practice  how 
to  draw  or  paint  or  write  or  sing  or  act.  He  can 
acquire  an  ability  to  say  things,  before  yet  he  is 
endowed  with  anything  to  say.  Then,  later,  when 
the  time  comes  to  express  himself,  because  his 
character  at  last  is  worthy  of  expression,  his  mes- 
sage to  the  world  will  flow  forth  fluently  and  grace- 
fully. This,  of  course,  was  what  was  in  the  mind 
of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  when  he  wrote  to  a 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

young  art-student,  Trevor  Haddon,  —  "  In  your  own 
art,  bow  your  head  over  technique.  Think  of 
technique  when  you  rise  and  when  you  go  to  bed. 
Forget  purposes  in  the  meanwhile;  get  to  love 
technical  processes,  to  glory  in  technical  successes ; 
get  to  see  the  world  entirely  through  technical 
spectacles,  to  see  it  entirely  in  terms  of  what  you 
can  do.  Then  when  you  have  anything  to  say,  the 
language  will  be  apt  and  copious." 

In  the  present  book,  Madame  Yvette  Guilbert 
expounds  the  basic  principles  of  the  art  of  dramatic 
and  lyric  interpretation,  —  an  art  of  which  she  is 
an  absolute  and  perfect  master.  This  treatise  is 
intended  primarily  as  a  manual  of  craftsmanship, 
for  the  benefit  of  beginners  who  aspire  to  follow  in 
her  footsteps.  But,  to  me  at  least,  the  volume 
has  a  deeper  meaning  and  teaches  a  more  important 
lesson ;  for  it  demonstrates  conclusively  that  tech- 
nical accomplishment  is  made,  not  born,  —  that  it 
can  and  must  be  learned,  and  can  be  taught. 

This  is  a  lesson  that  is  sorely  needed  at  the  present 
time,  when  an  anarchic  group  of  so-called  "critics" 
is  springing  up  to  celebrate  an  anarchic  group  of 
so-called  "artists"  who  noisily  pretend  that  tech- 
nique is  of  no  account,  because  they  are  too  lazy  to 
acquire  it.  The  heresy  that  anybody  can  express 
himself  spontaneously  without  having  mastered,  by 
previous  practice,  an  articulate  medium  of  expression 
cannot  be  too  utterly  condemned. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary,  in  this  place,  to  state 
that  Madame  Yvette  Guilbert  is  the  finest  artist, 
living  in  the  world  to-day,  who  does  anything  of 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

any  kind  upon  the  stage.  This  superlative  opinion 
has  been  expressed,  at  one  time  or  another  in  the 
last  ten  years,  by  nearly  all  the  leading  critics  of 
the  leading  nations.  But  the  very  perfectness  of 
her  art  might  allure  the  public  to  fall  into  the  heresy 
of  thinking  that  effects  produced  with  such  apparent 
ease  have  been  arrived  at  without  antecedent  effort. 
This  little  book  will  demonstrate,  however,  that 
nothing  is  easy  in  art,  and  that  the  appearance  of 
spontaneity  can  be  acquired  only  by  long  years  of 
earnest  study  and  indefatigable  practice. 

Madame  Yvette  Guilbert  was  always  a  great 
woman.  She  told  me  once  that,  owing  to  the  ad- 
vantages of  her  birth  and  bringing-up  in  the  bour- 
geoisie, or  working-class,  of  Paris,  she  knew  nearly 
as  much  of  human  life  and  understood  nearly  as 
much  of  human  character  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen 
as  she  knows  and  understands  to-day.  She  was 
gifted  by  nature  with  the  penetrating  faculty  of 
observation  and  the  world-embracing  faculty  of 
sympathy.  But  these  gifts  alone  could  never  have 
made  her  the  perfect  artist  that  she  has  become. 
Dante  said  of  his  century  of  cantos  that  the  labor 
of  them  had  kept  him  lean  for  twenty  years ;  and 
Madame  Yvette  Guilbert  has  devoted  even  a  longer 
time  than  that  to  the  tireless  task  of  perfecting  the 
technique  of  her  art. 

The  author  of  How  to  Sing  a  Song  is  not  accus- 
tomed to  write  books,  nor  does  she  aspire  to  any 
literary  laurels.  Furthermore,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, she  is  writing  in  an  unfamiliar  language, 
less  fitted  than  her  own  to  express  the  many  move- 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

ments  of  a  mind  that  is  peculiarly  and  typically 
French.  Yet,  to  me  at  least,  this  little  volume 
reveals  many  of  the  most  essential  traits  of  litera- 
ture. It  is  not  so  much  a  text-book  as  a  personal 
expression  of  the  ecstasy  of  a  great  artist  in  the 
propagation  of  her  craft.  Much  of  it,  unconsciously, 
is  autobiographical ;  and  even  when  the  author  en- 
deavors to  be  most  strictly  didactic,  the  perfume  of 
her  personality  irradiates  her  writing. 

For  the  general  reader,  therefore,  who  entertains 
no  aspiration  on  his  own  account  to  learn  "how  to 
sing  a  song,"  the  book  is  valuable  because  it  offers 
an  opportunity  to  become  more  nearly  acquainted 
with  one  of  the  great  women  of  the  world.  In  a 
recent  letter  to  myself  she  said,  —  "Puisse  mon 
livre  ouvrir  les  idees,  les  oreilles,  les  yeux,  et  les  coeurs 
de  ceux  qui  le  liront,  pour  y  chercher  la  clef  de  la 
celebrity,  ou  de  la  fortune  /  .  .  .  Ils  n'y  trouveront 
que  la  clef  de  la  conscience  dans  le  travail,  et  la  clef 
de  I'Eglise  de  I'humaine  Beaute." 

CLAYTON  HAMILTON. 

NEW  YORK  Crnr,  1918. 


NOTE.  —  The  drawings  in  this  book  are  made  by  Claire  Avery;   the 
photographs  by  Alice  Boughton. 


THE   ART   OF   DRAMATIC   AND 
LYRIC   INTERPRETATION 


THE  SPECIAL  VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  NECES- 
SARY TO  A  SINGER  OF  SONGS,  AS 
COMPARED    TO    THAT    OF 
AN    OPERATIC    SINGER 

THIS  little  book  is  written  with  the  purpose 
to  help  those  who  —  mistaken  about  what 
is  Art  —  will  vainly  struggle  against  their 
proper  ignorance. 

Men  sometimes  make  war  on  behalf  of  a 
humanitarian  ideal,  artists  always  struggle 
for  the  same  ideal,  but  the  former  believe  they 
will  save  the  world  by  spreading  wholesale 
Death,  the  latter  by  universal  Love. 

For  Art  is  Love ! 

Love  of  the  Creation  of  God ! 

Love  of  Nature ! 

Love  of  Life ! 

Love  of  Creation  by  sculpture,  by  painting, 
by  music,  by  poetry ! 

B  1 


2    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Know  your  fellow-creature  as  you  know  your- 
self and  you  will  be  an  artist ;  love  your  fellow- 
creature  as  yourself  and  you  will  be  a  genius ; 
worship  God  and  his  creation,  sing  its  praise 
and  you  will  be  immortal ! 

Let  the  mercenary  disdain  its  beauties,  let 
the  crowd  remain  faithful  to  its  slavish  task, 
let  it  remain  the  prisoner  of  a  narrow,  curbed 
mentality  —  but  you !  —  Free  yourself ! 

But  beware ! 

If  you  want  to  become  an  artist,  you  must 
understand  "Art"  —  art  in  all  forms  that 
every  art  embraces. 

Music  without  color  lacks  plasticity  .  .  . 
it  is  unharmonious ! 

Painting  without  plasticity  lacks  harmony 
.  .  .  it  is  colorless. 

Sculpture  without  harmony  lacks  color  .  .  . 
it  is  shapeless. 

Poetry  without  form,  color,  and  rhythm 
lacks  sculpture,  painting,  and  music,  and  is 
therefore  without  art. 

A  singer  with  the  most  splendid  voice  may 
be  often  a  deplorable  artist,  but  as  the  crowd 
makes  him  a  "  success,"  every  one  who  is  blessed 
with  the  same  singing  mechanism  wants  to 
become  the  same  "success." 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  3 

But  if  you  do  not  possess  the  splendid 
voice  ? 

Then  you  decide  to  become  a  "Singer  of 
Songs,"  as  it  is  "so  easy." 

Because  you  ignore  the  art  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  a  song ! 

Because  you  ignore  the  fact  that  there  is  in 
art  no  scale  of  "easiness,"  of  "facility"  ! 

Because  you  ignore  the  fact  that  art  to  be 
great,  to  be  perfect,  to  be  superior,  must  include 
all  the  arts  in  the  one  you  choose ! 

Because  you  ignore  the  fact  that  the  art 
which  appears  to  you  the  most  simple,  the 
"easiest,"  requires  the  longest  time  for  its 
perfection ! 

So,  if  you  want  to  make  a  real  career  as  a 
singer  of  songs,  the  career  of  a  Chansonneur, 
you  must  have  a  long  special  voice  training. 

You  must  not  be  either  a  soprano  or  con- 
tralto, either  a  barytone,  bass,  or  tenor,  you 
must  be  a  soprano  and  contralto,  you  must  be 
barytone,  bass,  and  tenor,  all  in  one. 

This  will  prevent  you  from  singing  a  song  as 
a  "uniform"  work,  like  an  operatic  part. 

The  singers  who  have  what  is  called  "one 
register"  normally  placed,  like  operatic  stars, 
are  out  of  question  for  the  art  of  singing  a  song. 
Their  voices  can  be  as  fine  as  possible,  if  they 


4    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

are  not  multiple,  they  will  not  be  able  to  render 
the  song  "justly,"  they  will  deform  it  by  too 
rich  or  too  stiff  a  voice  —  always  limited  to 
their  register. 

I  repeat  the  Chansonneur  must  have  no  limit 
in  expressing  herself  or  himself.  The  minute 
the  Chansonneur  is  limited,  he  is  not  any  more 
a  singer  of  songs. 

Because  to  sing  songs  means  possessing  all 
possibilities  to  sing  all  songs. 

La  Chanson  is  not  one  song.  La  Chanson 
is  multiple,  and  you  must  have  multiple  powers, 
multiple  colors,  multiple  voices. 

We  singers  of  songs,  we  are  painters.  Our 
voices  are  there  to  color  the  story,  the  picture  we 
exhibit.  We  must  illustrate  our  songs  as  an 
actress  her  part  with  many  colors,  that  is  to  say, 
many  vocal  colors,  and  so  help  the  public  to 
see  with  their  eyes  what  they  hear  with  their 
ears. 

Only  a  series  of  voices  can  produce  this. 

Of  course  I  know  how  dangerous  this  is  for 
the  voice,  and  for  this  reason  I  never  advise  a 
student  to  indulge  in  such  vocal  gymnastics, 
as  the  beginner  does  not  know  how  to  direct 
the  vocal  mechanism  of  his  voice. 

For  instance,  it  gives  some  songs  more  color 
if  you  sing  them  en  poitrine  (on  the  chest  regis- 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  5 

ter),  instead  of  using  the  passage  in  which  the 
voice  ought  to  be  placed.  It  would  be  incorrect 
in  operatic  technique. 

But  if  I  have  a  pupil  who  possesses  all  other 
qualities  which  are  required  for  a  singer  of 
songs;  that  is,  fantasy,  originality,  the  power 
of  comic  expression,  the  power  of  tragic  ex- 
pression, literary  culture,  instinct  of  the  plastic, 
sense  of  observation,  a  face  with  expressive 
eyes  and  mouth,  an  immense  sensitiveness  — 
I  direct  him  or  her  to  acquire  all  registers,  all 
vocal  colors  necessary  to  express  songs  of  all 
characters. 

I  met  in  the  early  beginning  of  my  career 
two  very  famous  musicians  with  whom  I  dis- 
cussed this  very  subject.  The  one  was  my 
celbbre  compatriote  Gounod. 

Gounod  told  me  very  often  :  "  Mademoiselle 
Yvette,  for  God's  sake,  do  not  take  singing 
lessons.  Your  professor  will  kill  your  power  of 
expression  by  giving  you  a  'pretty  voice,'  which 
means  a  'flat'  voice.  And  then  you  will  be 
one  of  the  thousands.  You  will  be  like  Judic, 
whose  voice  is  pretty,  charming,  and  nothing 
else.  We  have  had  Judics  before  Judic,  and 
we  shall  have  Judics  after  Judic.  You  your- 
self have  created  your  style,  preserve  it." 


6    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

On  one  of  his  last  visits  to  Paris,  Verdi  came 
to  my  house.  We  were  speaking  of  interpre- 
tation. I  asked  him  to  explain  to  me  why  he 
had  composed  in  "La  Traviata,"  for  the  supper 
scene,  the  spirit  of  which  was  so  sentimental, 
such  a  vivacious  music  almost  in  a  tempo  of 
waltz.  "You  see,"  replied  Verdi,  "if  we  had 
on  the  operatic  stage  singers  of  songs  such  as 
you  are,  we  would  write  music  appropriate  to 
the  words ;  but  we  have  only  more  or  less  beau- 
tiful voices  for  arias,  and  we  write  music  for 
arias,  arias  to  make  shine  the  soprano,  arias 
for  the  contralto,  arias  for  the  tenor,  etc." 

You  hear  these  authoritative  lips  confirm 
the  idea  that  there  is  a  difference  between  the 
operatic  singer  and  the  singer  of  songs. 

And  there  is  a  difference  between  the  vocal 
technique  of  a  singer  of  songs  and  the  vocal 
technique  of  an  opera  singer. 

The  singer  of  songs  has  to  break  the  uniform- 
ity of  his  register.  He  will  acquire  it  by  learn- 
ing first  to  speak,  by  speaking  with  "color,"  by 
reciting. 

He  will  become  accustomed  to  place  his  voice 
"on  the  lips,"  in  the  masque,  as  we  say  in 
French,  and  not  in  the  nose  or  in  the  throat. 

His  speaking  voice  will  be  in  turn  sweet  or 
deep,  full  of  nuances  (shades)  and  he  will  be 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  7 

able  to  give  to  his  singing  voice  the  same  shades. 
He  will  become  accustomed  to  sing  as  a  bass 
with  the  chest  (his  medium,  however,  must  be 
splendidly  posed ;  this  is  absolutely  important 
in  singing  songs)  and  his  voix  de  t$te  (head  notes) 
will  replace  the  ample  high  octave  of  the  oper- 
atic singer. 

The  singer  of  a  song  should  be  able  to  sing 
with  the  voice  of  a  child,  the  voice  of  a  boy,  of 
a  girl,  of  a  young  man,  of  an  old  man,  of  a 
brutal  man,  of  a  sweet  woman,  of  a  priest,  of  a 
soldier;  his  voice  should  have  all  the  colors 
necessary  to  express  all  human  feelings,  all  the 
thousand  shades  of  human  emotions,  of  human 
joys,  of  human  sorrows,  of  human  perplexity, 
all  the  colors  necessary  to  illuminate  the  words 
of  a  text. 

Speaking  of  the  supreme  art  of  coloring  the 
words,  which  in  dramatic  and  in  lyric  art  is  of 
the  first  importance,  Jules  Lemaitre,  the  great 
French  dramatic  critic,  says  of  the  great  artist 
Eleanora  Duse,  that  she  is  a  genius  of  interpre- 
tation, plastiquement  et  mimiquement  parlant 
—  from  a  plastic  and  mimic  point  of  view.  He 
adds: 

"Those,  however,  who,  as  I,  do  not  know  the 
Italian  language,  cannot  judge  absolutely  and  com- 
pletely the  total  value  of  her  art.  The  shading,  the 


8    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

coloring  of  her  diction,  escape  my  notion.  This  is 
a  condition  which  is  a  prejudice  to  the  artist.  The 
best  comedians  obtain  great  effects  of  expression 
by  their  science  of  coloring  and  by  their  art  of  pro- 
nunciation. 

"The  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  scene, 
the  comprehension  one  might  have  of  the  subject  of 
the  play  —  if  one  does  not  speak  the  Italian  lan- 
guage —  is  not  sufficient  for  artistically  appreciating 
the  talent  or  the  dramatic  '  science '  of  the  artist. 
Therefore,  an  entire  part  of  her  art  —  and  a  very 
important  one  —  escapes  us.  We  are  captivated 
by  a  voice  which  is  pure,  clear,  and  sensible,  and 
by  the  emotional  quality  of  its  intonations." 

It  is  evident  that  the  public  submits  to  the 
charm  of  that  music  which  is  the  Italian  lan- 
guage, as  it  often  submits  to  the  music  of  the 
beautiful  language  of  France,  ignoring  how  it 
is  sometimes  disfigured,  horribly  pronounced, 
badly  colored  and  still  worse  shaded  by  dramatic 
artists  without  the  necessary  vocal  science. 
These  make  out  of  the  art  of  declamation  an 
art  of  deformation. 

The  great  art  of  "coloring"  the  word  is  just 
as  important  as  the  art  of  designing  for  the 
painter,  and  again  the  great  art  of  "drawing" 
the  word  is  just  as  indispensable  as  the  art  of 
coloring  for  the  painter. 

Every  word  has  its  form  and  its  color,  its 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  9 

light  and  its  shade.  One  does  not  for  example 
pronounce  the  word  del  (heaven)  as  one  pro- 
nounces the  word  herbe  (grass).  The  words 
chaud  and  froid  (hot  and  cold)  have  equal  value 
of  accent ;  also  beau  and  laid  (pretty  and  ugly), 
but  the  word  nuage  (cloud)  is  more  ample,  more 
majestic  than  the  word  pluie  (rain).  The  word 
merveilleux  (marvelous)  is  more  accentuated 
than  the  word  splendide  (splendid). 

If  a  skilled  dramatic  artist  has  to  say :  La 
neige  couvrait  la  terre  (Snow  covered  the  earth) 
he  will  pronounce  the  word  neige  with  a  long 
accent :  la  nei-ge,  as  if,  musically  speaking,  the 
value  was  a  half  note  (une  blanche)  for  the  first 
syllable  and  a  quarter  note  (une  noire)  for  the 
second. 

La  nei — ge  couvrait  la  terre! 


The  word  couvrait  will  be  pronounced  amply, 
largely ;  to  the  word  terre  will  be  given  the  same 
value  of  accent. 

The  artist  who  will  pronounce  the  phrase 
"la  neige  couvrait  la  terre"  dryly,  without  visual 
and  intellectual  coloring,  in  a  word,  without 
science,  will  be  an  inferior  artist. 

Therefore,  as  I  said  before,  if  you  possess  the 


10    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

art  of  coloring  the  words,  you  have  the  first 
stones  of  the  house  you  wish  to  build  up. 

Now,  the  second  indispensable  point  is  how 
to  breathe,  respiration  !  Respiration  is  only  a 
question  of  cleverness.  Everybody  can  learn 
how  to  breathe  in  a  short  time ;  it  is  very  simple. 

First  you  must  practice  the  purely  physical 
movements  of  respiration.  First  absorb  slowly 
the  air  and  keep  it,  with  mouth  closed,  in  the 
upper  part  of  your  chest,  so  to  say,  on  the  level 
of  your  shoulders,  as  long  as  you  can  and  until 
you  have  the  sensation  of  an  inflated  chest. 

When  you  feel  you  cannot  any  longer  retain 
the  absorbed  air,  lower  your  chest ;  that  means 
let  it  empty  itself  of  the  large  dose  of  air  you 
have  absorbed,  but  very  slowly,  extremely 
slowly,  almost  imperceptibly. 

If  you  practice  this  every  day  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  you  will  at  the  end  be  able  to  sing 
in  one  single  respiration,  which  you  take  before 
starting,  the  twenty-four  measures  of  the  fol- 
lowing song :  Un  Mouvement  de  Curiosite. 

UN  MOUVEMENT  DE  CURIOSITE 

Refrain : 

H61as  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite. 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  11 

1 

Je  me  croyais  seulette  en  la  prairie 
Quant  £  mes  yeux  Colinet  s'est  present^ ; 
He*las  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite". 

2 

Vous  le  savez  dans  le  village  on  public 
Que  ce  berger  n'a  pas  d'e"gal  en  beaute" ; 
He*las  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite". 

3 

En  m'abordant  sur  1'herbette  fleurie 
A  mes  genoux  a  1'instant  il  s'est  jete* ; 
Helas  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite*. 

4 

Au  meme  instant  sa  bouche  a  la  mienne  unie 
Fit  naitre  en  moi  le  gout  de  la  volupte" ; 
Helas  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite". 

5 

II  me  vantait  les  noeuds  dont  Tamom  nous  lie, 
J'ai  voulu  voir  s'il  disait  la  v^rit6 ; 
He"las  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite". 

6 

Si  ce  plaisir  est  le  charme  de  la  vie, 
Est-ce  un  grand  mal,  maman,  d'y  avoir  gout6  ? 
H^las  maman,  pardonnez  je  vous  prie 
Un  mouvement  de  curiosite*. 


12    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 


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VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  13 

When  I  taught  myself  how  to  breathe,  I  used 
the  foregoing  song  as  an  example  for  controlling 
my  respiration.  In  the  beginning  I  sang  four 
measures  and  I  was  obliged  to  take  breath. 

I  then  began  my  physical  exercises.  Three 
weeks  later  I  could  sing  eight  measures  before 
again  taking  breath  and  was  able  to  complete 
the  whole  refrain  with  the  sole  respiration  taken 
at  the  start. 

Then  I  continued  to  practice  the  prolonging 
of  my  respiration  patiently,  methodically,  and 
slowly,  and  could  add  after  five  weeks  another 
eight  measures  of  the  first  stanza. 

It  was,  however,  martyrdom  when  I  tried  to 
stop  at  the  point  d'orgue  (organ  point)  of  the 
seventeenth  measure.  The  stop,  indeed,  was 
necessary  for  the  sake  of  preserving  the  special 
and  characteristic  grace  of  this  eighteenth 
century  music  in  which  the  song  is  written. 

I  succeeded  by  practicing  and  was  able  to 
sing  the  first  sixteen  measures  with  the  single 
respiration  d'attaque. 

At  last  to  make  the  virtuosity  triumph  it  was 
necessary  to  add  to  the  verse  the  refrain  of 
the  song.  That  means  another  five  measures 
—  which  was  easy,  owing  to  the  gymnastic  ex- 
ercises practiced  with  the  same  refrain  at  the 
beginning  of  the  song. 


14    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

At  the  end  of  another  ten  days  I  was  able  to 
sing  the  twenty-four  measures  of  the  song  with 
one  single  respiration  taken  at  the  start.  It 
took  therefore  almost  ten  weeks  to  learn  res- 
piration, and  to  control  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
be  absolute  master  of  it. 

Another  example :  Let  somebody  beat  the 
measure  at  2-4  and  speak  out  the  following 
notes : 

do,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  si,  do,  si,  la,  sol,  fa,  mi,  re. 

With  a  moderate  tempo  one  ought  to  be  able 
ten  times  to  make  the  ascent  and  descent  of 
the  gamut,  six  times  when  the  chest  is  filled 
with  air  and  four  times  when  the  air  escapes. 

Now  instead  of  pronouncing  the  notes  by 
speaking  them,  sing  them,  vocalize  them,  and 
one  will  be  surprised  to  see  how,  by  this  simple 
exercise,  one  can  obtain  the  absolute  control  of 
respiration  which,  after  all,  is  only  a  question  of 
will  and  patience. 

To  conclude,  here  are  the  first  points  to  acquire. 

A  special  vocal  technique  for  recitation  or 
for  singing  songs,  and  also  respiration. 

Now  I  will  give  an  illustration  of  what  I  have 
said  about  coloring  the  words.  I  will  sing,  for 
example,  St.  Nicolas,  in  which  song  you  will 
see  the  different  colors  I  mean. 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  15 

A  Chansonneur  must  be,  not  only  a  painter, 
with  his  voice,  but  a  sculptor  with  a  plastic  art, 
a  poet  of  the  soul,  and  see  beauty  everywhere ! 

In  St.  Nicolas  there  are  many  kinds  of  voices 
to  express  by  colors. 

1.  The  voice  of  the  artist  interpreting  the 
song,  which  is  neutral. 

2.  The  voice  of  the  butcher,  brown. 

3.  The  speaking  voice  of  St.  Nicholas,  red, 
large,  and  posed  in  the  grave  register. 

4.  The  child's  voice,  a  white  voice. 

LA   LEGENDS  DE  SAINT  NICOLAS 

II  <§tait  trois  petits  enfants 

Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 

S'en  vont  un  soir  chez  un  boucher : 
Boucher,  voudrais-tu  nous  loger? 
Entrez,  entrez,  petits  enfants, 
Y  a  d'la  place  assure'ment. 

II  e"tait,  etc. 

Us  n'e"taient  pas  sit6t  entre"s, 
Que  le  boucher  les  a  tue"s  ! 
Les  a  coupe's  en  p'tits  morceaux, 
Mis  au  saloir  comme  pourceaux  ! 

II  e"tait,  etc. 

Saint  Nicolas,  au  bout  d'sept  ans, 
Vint  a  passer  dedans  ce  champ. 
II  s'en  allait  chez  le  boucher : 
Boucher,  voudrais-tu  me  loger? 

II  e"tait,  etc. 


16    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Entrez,  entrez,  Saint  Nicolas  ! 
Y  a  d'la  place,  il  n'en  manqu'pas. 
II  n'e"tait  pas  sitot  entre" 
Qu'il  a  demande  a  souper. 

II  e"tait,  etc. 

Du  p'tit  sale"  je  veux  avoir  ! 
Qu'il  y  a  sept  ans  qu'est  dans  1'saloir  ! 
Quand  le  boucher  entendit  ga, 
Hors  de  sa  porte  il  s'enfuya. 

II  etait,  etc. 

Boucher,  boucher  !  ne  t'enfuis  pas ! 
R'pens-toi !     Dieu  te  pardonnera  ! 
Saint  Nicolas  alia  s'asseoir 
Dessus  le  bord  de  ce  saloir. 

II  etait,  etc. 

Petits  enfants  qui  dormez  la  — 
Je  suis  le  grand  Saint  Nicolas. 
Et  le  Saint  e"tendit  trois  doigts : 
Les  petits  se  releVnt  tous  les  trois  !  .  .  . 

II  e"tait,  etc. 

Le  premier  dit  .  .  .  J'ai  bien  dormi ! 
Et  moi !  dit  le  second,  aussi ! 
Et  le  troisiSme  re"pondit : 
Je  croyais  e"tre  au  paradis  ! 

II  e"tait,  etc. 

The  song  La  Legende  de  Saint  Nicolas  be- 
gins with  the  refrain  told  by  the  interpreter  of 
the  song  with  a  neutral  voice : 

II  e"tait  trois  petits  enfants 

Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 

S'en  vont  un  soir  chez  un  boucher : 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  17 

THE  CHILDREN 
(White  voice) 

Boucher,  voudras-tu  nous  loger? 
(This  with  a  childish  supplication) 

THE  BUTCHER 
(With  a  hard,  a  brown  voice) 

Entrez,  entrez,  petits  enfants, 
Y  a  d'la  place  assur&nent. 

INTERPRETER 
(Neutral  voice) 

Refrain : 

II  e"tait  trois  petits  enfants 
Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 

In  the  second  verse  the  interpreter  is  himself 
frightened  by  the  crime  he  tells.  His  voice 
must  show  emotion ;  his  is  a  trembling  voice 
now,  stirred  by  the  action  of  the  criminal 
butcher ;  he  sings  with  a  terrified  voice : 

Us  n'e"taient  pas  sit6t  entry's, 
Que  le  boucher  les  a  tue*s  ! 
Les  a  coupe's  en  p'tits  morceaux, 
Mis  au  saloir  comme  pourceaux  ! 

Refrain : 

II  e"tait  trois  petits  enfants 

Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 


18    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

In  this  refrain  the  interpreter  raises  the  ex- 
pression of  terror  to  the  climax. 
In  the  third  verse : 

INTERPRETER 
(Again  neutral  voice) 

Saint  Nicolas  au  bout  de  sept  ans, 
Vint  &  passer  dedans  ce  champ, 
II  s'en  allait  chez  le  boucher  .  .  . 

SAINT  NICHOLAS 

(Red  voice,  luminous  voice,  nobly  posed,  grave 
register) 

Boucher  .  .  .  voudrais-tu  me  loger? 

BUTCHER 
(Humble  voice,  submissive  to  the  Saint) 

Entrez,  entrez,  Saint  Nicolas, 

Y  a  d'la  place,  y  n'en  manqu'pas ! 

INTERPRETER 

II  n'e"tait  pas  sitot  entre", 
Qu'il  a  demande*  a  souper. 

Refrain : 

II  e'tait  trois  petits  enfants 

Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 

In  this  refrain  the  interpreter  will  reveal  how 
afraid  he  is  of  what  he  knows  about  the  crime 


19 

committed  in  the  very  room  in  which  the  Saint 
is  seated.    There  must  be  anxiety  in  his  voice. 

SAINT  NICHOLAS 
(Imperative  voice,  large,  grave,  severe,  and  accusing) 

Du  p'tit  sa!6  je  veux  avoir  I 

Qu'il  y  a  sept  ans  qu'est  dans  Psaloir  ! 

INTERPRETER 

(Voice  exasperated  by  emotion  in  face  of  the  accusa- 
tion of  the  Saint  and  his  revelation  of  the  crime) 

Quand  le  boucher  entendit  ga, 
Hors  de  sa  porte  il  s'enfuya  ! 

Here  the  interpreter  has  a  splendid  opportun- 
ity of  coloring.  If  he  has  a  far-reaching  voice, 
ringing  out  the  vowel  a  in  the  word  s'enfuya, 
he  may  produce  a  long  scream :  aaaaaaaaa ! 
which  can  be  interpreted  as  a  long  scream  of 
terror  uttered  by  the  butcher  who  sees  himself 
discovered  by  the  Saint.  The  interpreter  has 
in  that  long  scream  an  immense  effect  of  colora- 
tion, visualizing  the  flight  of  the  butcher  out 
of  his  home. 

It  ought  to  be  sung : 

Quand  le  boucher  entendit  c,a, 

Hors  de  sa  porte  il  s'enfuya  ...  ah  ! 


20    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Refrain  : 

II  e"tait  trois  petits  enfants, 

Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs  ! 

Of  course  the  refrain  must  also  express  a  share 
of  the  butcher's  fright,  because  in  his  con- 
science now  stirred  up,  he  will  revive  the  scene 
of  his  crime  when  the  children  innocently  en- 
tered his  house. 

SAINT  NICHOLAS 

(With  an  inflexible  voice  of  severity,  not  a  baritone 
but  bass  voice,  deep  register,  more  speaking 
than  singing) 

Boucher,  boucher  !  ne  t'enfuis  pas ! 
R'pens-toi !  Dieu  te  pardonnera  ! 

INTERPRETER 

(With  a  voice  specially  rhythmic   and   essentially 

classic) 

Saint  Nicolas  alia  s'asseoir 
Dessus  le  bord  de  ce  saloir. 

Refrain : 

II  e"tait  trois  petits  enfants, 

Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 

SAINT  NICHOLAS 
(Voice  mystic,  inspired,  and  tender) 

Petits  enfants  qui  dormez  la  — 
Je  suis  le  grand  Saint  Nicolas ! 


VOCAL  TECHNIQUE  21 

INTERPRETER 

(Voice  veiled  by  the  emotion  of  the  miracle  which  is 
going  to  be  accomplished) 

Et  le  Saint  e"tendit  trois  doigts, 
Les  petits  se  relev'nt  tous  les  trois ! 
H  e"tait  trois  petits  enfants 
Qui  s'en  allaient  glaner  aux  champs. 

FIRST  CHILD 

(Voice  of  about  ten  years) 

Le  premier  dit  .  .  .  J'ai  bien  dormi ! 

SECOND  CHILD 

(Voice  of  about  seven  years,  high-pitched) 
Et  moi !  dit  le  second,  aussi ! 

THIRD  CHILD 
(Very  high,  like  a  baby) 
Je  croyais  e'tre  au  paradis  ! 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  THE 
TEXT 

WHAT  is  the  text  of  a  song  to  an  artist? 
Just  a  little  thread,  a  guide  helping  you  to 
understand  the  ideas,  the  thought  of  a  poem, 
of  a  song.  It  is  not  from  the  written  words 
that  the  meaning  of  a  song  is  derived,  but  it  is 
the  thought  that  inspires  the  words  of  a  verse. 
The  words  are  nothing  but  an  accessory. 

When  I  began  my  career  as  a  singer,  I  gave 
nearly  all  the  subjects  I  wished  to  sing  to 
my  authors.  I  even  often  roughly  wrote  the 
verses  and  they  worked  on  my  schedule. 

Starting  on  the  principle  that  the  singer 
must  be  the  creator  of  his  song,  the  artist  must 
deeply  penetrate  the  idea  of  the  author.  That 
which  is  written  helps  to  read  that  which  is 
not  written,  and  of  what  is  not  written  you 
must  make  your  piece  de  resistance  in  the  inter- 
pretation. The  discovery  of  it  will  of  course 
show  your  talent.  But  if  you  have  no  talent, 
why  sing)  songs?  In  French  songs  we  have 

22 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    23 

many  opportunities  to  show  our  intelligence,  our 
esprit,  because  our  songs  have  refrains,  and 
they  are  not  made  for  nothing!  They  are 
always  in  intelligent  and  direct  correspondence 
with  the  verse  itself.  The  difficulty  is  to  vary 
the  expression  of  each  one,  but  the  difficulty 
is  small  indeed.  Take  for  instance  La  Glu 
with  its  Lonlon  laire,  lonlon  la.  These  words 
give  all  the  meaning  not  written,  and  augment 
all  the  force  of  the  tragic  thought ! 

How  you  can  amplify  your  text  with  this 
refrain ! 

How  you  can  draw  the  great  drama,  of  the 
boy  killing  his  mother,  and  taking  her  heart 
from  her  body  to  bring  it  to  his  love's  dog, 
as  she  ordered  him  to  do.  Her  terrible  order 
is  expressed  in  the  refrain  and  the  refrain  must 
show  this  —  killing  his  mother  madly,  fero- 
ciously, et  lonlon  laire,  lonlon  la.  He  takes  her 
heart  and  runs  away  —  running,  running  with 
the  heart,  he  falls  down  with  it,  lonlon  laire  et 
lonlon  la.  It  will  help  you  to  describe  the 
horror  of  the  situation,  the  fear  the  murderer 
has  of  being  seen,  of  being  taken  by  the  police. 
It  will  take  you  to  the  fifth  verse  and  the  refrain 
becomes  in  its  simple  syllables  a  terrific  ex- 
pression. He  heard  his  mother's  heart  speak, 
and  in  the  sixth  verse  finally  all  the  interior 


24    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

thought  of  the  poet  is  to  be  expressed  by  a 
supernatural  voice !  The  dead  heart  speaks 
and  says:  "Are  you  hurt,  my  son?"  And 
the  refrain  will  do  the  miracle. 

Our  great  Teresa,  who  created  this  song,  had 
chosen  music  different  from  the  music  of 
Gounod,  which  I  sing,  because  she  told  me  she 
could  not  render  it  as  it  ought  to  be. 

Well,  the  truth  is,  it  is  not  a  question  of 
music.  It  is  a  difficulty  of  "realism"  which 
she  could  not  surmount.  She  had  a  tremen- 
dous and  celebrated  masculine  voice,  profound 
emotional  power,  but  she  was  extremely  limited 
in  her  means.  I  knew  her  very  well.  She 
came  each  day  for  one  entire  year  to  hear  me 
at  the  time  of  my  debut  in  Paris,  because  I  was 
her  successor  at  the  Concert  Parisien. 

I  shall  give  you  now  the  words  of  the  song 
La  Glu.  The  words  are  written  by  our  famous 
French  poet,  Jean  Richepin,  and  set  to  music 
by  another  famous  Frenchman,  Gounod.  I 
shall  show  you  verse  by  verse  what  I  mean  by 
amplifying  the  author's  text. 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    25 

LA   GLU 

(Words  by  Jean  Richepin) 

1 

Y  avait  une  fois  un  pauv'  gas 

Et  lonlon  laire 

Et  lonlon  la 

Y  avait  une  fois  un  pauv'  gas 
Qui  aimait  celle  qui  ne  1'aimait  pas. 

2 

Elle  lui  dit :  apporte  moi  d'main, 

Et  lonlon  laire 

Et  lonlon  la 

Elle  lui  dit :  apporte  moi  d'main 
L'cceur  de  ta  mere  pour  mon  chien. 

3 

Va  chez  sa  mere  et  la  tue, 

Et  lonlon  laire 

Et  lonlon  la 

Va  chez  sa  m&re  et  la  tue, 
Lui  prit  1'cceur  et  s'en  courut ! 

4 

Comme  il  courait,  il  tomba 

Et  lonlon  laire 

Et  lonlon  la 

Comme  il  courait,  il  tomba 
Et  par  terre  le  coeur  roula. 


26    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

5 

Et  pendant  que  le  cceur  roulait, 

Et  lonlon  laire 

Et  lonlon  la 

Et  pendant  que  coeur  roulait, 
Entendit  I'cosur  qui  parlait ! 

6 

Et  1'coeur  disait  en  pleurant 

Et  lonlon  laire 

Et  lonlon  la 

Et  I'creur  disait  en  pleurant : 
T'es  tu  fait  mal,  mon  pauvre  enfant? 


inmjr^ 


Y  a    vait  un'   fois      un  pauv'  gas       et    Ion      Ion 


L*  J' 


lair    -    e       et       Ion        Ion       la        Y  a  -  vait  un' 


w=$ 


fois          un       pauv'     gas  qui        ai  -  mait 


cell  -  e       qui      ai  -  mait  celle    qui  n'l'ai  -  mait  pas. 

Now  after  having  given  you  the  words  of 
the  song,  I  shall  show  you  how,  by  singing  the 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    27 

refrain  in  different  style,  you  can  amplify  the 
text  of  the  author. 

In  the  first  verse  you  give  the  refrain : 

Et  lonlon  laire 
Et  lonlon  la 

with  a  tender,  but  sad  intonation,  indicating 
the  love  of  the  boy  and  his  sadness  to  see  his 
love  unanswered.  Perhaps  the  boy  is  also  sad, 
feeling  that  his  love  is  misplaced. 

In  the  second  verse  you  sing  the  ref rain : 

Et  lonlon  laire 
Et  lonlon  la 

with  a  very  imperative  voice.  The  girl  orders 
the  boy  to  go  and  kill  his  mother.  She  gives 
him  the  order  indifferently,  dryly,  cruelly. 
Your  interpretation  of  the  refrain  must  indi- 
cate it. 

In  the  third  verse  you  see  the  boy  rushing 
off  to  fulfill  the  cruel  order  of  his  love.  The 
expression  of  the  refrain  must  indicate  the 
ferociousness  of  the  deed,  the  madness  of  the 
boy. 

The  fourth  verse  tells  how  the  boy  after 
having  killed  his  mother  is  running  back  to  his 
sweetheart  with  his  mother's  heart. 

Your  interpretation  of  the  refrain  must  in- 


28    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

dicate  that  he  is  running  fast,  as  if  in  fear  of 
being  caught;  he  is  breathless,  exhausted  by 
the  strain,  in  fact  so  exhausted  that  he  stumbles 
while  running  and  drops  the  heart. 

The  fifth  verse  describes  how  the  heart 
which  the  boy  dropped  is  rolling  in  the  sand. 

This  is  the  climax  of  the  song.  Here  the 
refrain  must  express  supreme  terror.  The 
voice  must  be  almost  extinct,  as  if  the  sight  of 
the  rolling  heart  stops  your  breath. 

In  the  sixth  and  last  verse,  the  words  of 
which  contain  the  glorification  of  maternal 
love,  you  hear  the  mother's  heart  speak.  The 
heart  does  not  complain  of  the  child's  cruelty,  it 
does  not  complain  of  its  own  tragic  fate,  all 
the  mother's  heart  thinks  of  is :  Has  my  boy 
in  falling  hurt  himself? 

The  refrain  should  indicate  the  mother's 
voice.  It  is  supernatural,  plaintive,  weeping, 
hardly  perceptible,  as  if  coming  from  beyond 
the  real  world. 

I  shall  give  you  now  the  words  of  another 
song,  to  illustrate  further  how  by  penetrating 
into  the  meaning  of  the  song  you  can  find 
means  to  amplify  the  sense  of  it. 

The  original  text  of  the  song,  which  belongs 
to  the  eighteenth  century,  is : 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    29 

EST-IL  DONG  BIEN  VRAI? 

1 

Est-il  done  bien  vrai, 
Gentille  fillette, 
Qu'amour  vous  ait  fait, 
Ce  soir  en  cachette, 
Present  d'un  bouquet? 

2 

Quand  il  vous  surprit, 
Vous  e"tiez  seulette ; 
On  dit  qu'il  vous  prit, 
Sur  ces  entrefaites, 
Un  frisson  subit. 

3 

Dites  a  present, 
Que  vous  n'aimiez  gu£re, 
Qu'un  jeune  gallant 
Vous  fasse,  ma  chere, 
Vous  fasse  un  present ! 

The  song  is  spiritual,  delicate,  it  has  all  the 
perfume  of  the  eighteenth  century,  all  the 
gallantry  of  the  court,  but  the  song,  if  sung  as 
it  was  originally  written,  would  not  go  over  the 
footlights,  so  to  say. 

If  you  interpret  it  by  treating  it  heavily, 
by  exaggerating  by  low  mimic,  for  example, 
what  the  words  do  not  give  you  opportunity 
to  express,  then  an  ugly  vulgarity  will  appear 
and  art  will  disappear.  But  after  having 


30    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

added  with  wit  what  in  fact  was  not  written 
in  the  text  but  could  have  been  written,  you 
retain  the  elegance,  the  perfumed  distinction 
of  your  text,  and  you  augment  to  a  high  degree 
its  value. 

I  shall  give  now  the  text  with  the  "amplifica- 
tions." 

EST-IL  DONG  BIEN  VRAI  ? 

1 

Est-il  done  bien  vrai, 
Hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Gentille  fillette, 

Hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Qu'amour  vous  ait  fait, 
Hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Ce  soir  en  cachette, 

Hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Qu'amour  vous  ait  fait 
Ce  soir  en  cachette, 
Qu'amour  vous  ait  fait  .  .  . 
Present  d'un  bouquet? 

2 

Quand  il  vous  surprit  .  .  . 
Hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Vous  e"tiez  seulette, 

Hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
On  dit  qu'il  vous  prit 
Hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Sur  ces  entrefaites, 

Hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
On  dit  qu'il  vous  prit, 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    31 


Sur  ces  entrefaites, 
On  dit  qu'il  vous  prit 
Un  frisson  subit ! 

3 

Dites  a  present, 
Hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Que  vous  n'aimez  gu£re, 
Hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum 
Qu'un  jeune  gallant 
Hum  .  .  .  hum ! 
Vous  fasse,  ma  ch£re, 
Hum  .  .  .  hum  .  .  .  hum 
Qu'un  jeune  gallant 
Vous  fasse,  ma  ch6re, 
Qu'un  jeune  gallant 
Vous  fasse  un  present? 


:4 


hum 


hum 


hum 


hum  ! 


m 


J  *    J 


2 


Est       il      done    bien     vrai        hum  -  hum 


sfe*-fr 


^ 


T 


gen  -  till  -  e    fill  -  et  -  te  hum  hum  hum  hum    hum 


qu'a-mour  vous  ait     fait    hum  hum      ce   soir  en  each  - 


^-J-^^ 


et  -  te  hum  hum  hum  hum  hum    qu'a-mour  vous  ait 


32    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 


fait 


ce  soir  en  each  -  ette       qu'a-mour  vous  ait 


fait       pre  -  sent  d'un 


You  see  clearly  how  the  song  becomes  ani- 
mated, scenic,  and  expressive  by  these  hum  .  .  . 
hums,  which  are  just  what  is  needed  in  the 
case  to  augment,  to  amplify  the  otherwise 
somewhat  dry  text. 

The  difficulty  sometimes  is  to  find  the  "cor- 
respondence" between  the  poetry  and  the 
amplification  —  I  mean  to  say,  the  word  or 
articulation  to  fit  in  —  which  must  be  ab- 
solutely direct  and  clear. 

However,  it  is  only  a  question  of  wit,  of  esprit, 
an  indispensable  gift  for  him  who  wishes  to 
sing  a  song  effectively,  a  gift  without  which 
you  can  do  little. 

Now  let  us  improvise  such  an  amplification 
of  text,  for  instance,  in  the  first  verse  of  an  old 
popular  English  song  you  all  know:  Comin' 
thro'  the  Rye. 

The  first  verse  reads  in  plain  English : 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    33 

If  a  body  meet  a  body 
Comin'  thro'  the  rye, 
If  a  body  kiss  a  body 
Need  a  body  cry? 
Every  lassie  has  a  laddie, 
Never  one  have  I ; 
But  all  the  lads 
They  loved  me  well, 
And  what  the  worse  am  I  ? 

Now  let  us  sing  the  first  verse  with  the 
following  modification : 

If  a  body  meet  a  body     .     .     .  why  not? 

Comin'  thro'  the  rye  ....  why  not? 

If  a  body  kiss  a  body  ....  why  not? 
Need  a  body  cry  ? 

Every  lassie  has  a  laddie      .     .  why  not? 

Never  one  have  I why  not  ? 

But  all  the  lads 

They  loved  me  well     ....  why  not? 

And  what  the  worse  am  I  ? 

You  see  all  the  comic  opportunities  in  the 
multiple  colorations  of  those  "why  not's." 

You  will  find  easily  the  amplification  of  a 
text,  if  you  are  penetrated  by  the  subject  of 
your  song.  Of  course  you  must  not  abuse 
it.  Not  many  songs  require  an  amplification ; 
you  must  feel  when  it  is  needed  and  permitted. 

To  conclude  the  illustration  of  what  we  have 


34    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

called  the  amplification  of  text,  I  shall  give 
you  a  final  example. 

I  was  reading  one  day  one  of  my  favorite 
authors,  Jules  Laforgue,  and  happened  to 
come  upon  a  poem  which  I  thought  could  be 
well  turned  into  a  song. 

The  following  were  the  words  of  the  poem, 
called  Notre  petite  Compagne,  which  you  heard 
me  sing  under  the  title :  La  Femme. 

NOTRE  PETITE  COMPAGNE 

Si  mon  air  vous  dit  quelque  chose 
Vous  auriez  tort  de  vous  gener ; 
Je  ne  la  fais  pas  a  la  pose ; 
Je  suis  La  Femme,  on  me  connalt. 

Bandeaux  plats  ou  criniere  folle, 
Dites?  quel  front  vous  rendrait  fou? 
J'ai  Tart  de  toutes  les  e"coles, 
J'ai  des  ames  pour  tous  les  gouts. 

Cueillez  la  fleur  de  mes  visages, 
Buvez  ma  bouche  et  non  ma  voix, 
Et  n'en  cherchez  pas  davantage  .  .  . 
Nul  n'y  vit  clair ;  pas  meme  moi. 

Nos  armes  ne  sont  pas  e"gales, 
Pour  que  je  vous  tende  la  main, 
Vous  n'etes  que  de  nai'fs  males, 
Je  suis  PEternel  Fe'minin  ! 

Mon  But  se  perd  dans  les  Etoiles, 
C'est  moi  qui  suis  la  Grande  Isis  ! 


HOW  TO  PENETRATE  AND  AMPLIFY  TEXT    35 

Nul  ne  m'a  retrousse"  mon  voile. 
Ne  songez  qu'a  mes  oasis  .  .  . 

Si  mon  air  vous  dit  quelque  chose, 
Vous  auriez  tort  de  vous  ge'ner ; 
Je  ne  la  fais  pas  a  la  pose : 
Je  suis  La  Femme  !  on  me  connalt. 

When  you  read  attentively  this  wonderful 
poem,  you  will  see  clearly  that  the  poetic 
theme  is  based  on  the  thought  expressed  in 
the  first  four  lines.  It  is  the  synthesis  of  the 
whole  poem.  In  those  first  four  lines  the 
totality  of  the  poem  is  condensed  and,  more 
than  that,  in  them  is  expressed  the  mystery  of 
the  enigmatic  femininity  exposed  in  the  poem. 

Therefore  I  made  out  of  these  four  lines  my 
leitmotiv.  They  became  my  refrain,  which  I 
repeated  after  each  verse.  The  refrain  gave 
to  the  text  a  tremendous  opportunity  for  the 
amplification  of  interpretation,  amplification 
of  plasticity,  amplification  of  mimicry. 

In  cases  where  you  choose  your  songs  among 
poems  written  without  music,  you  must  your- 
self find  the  music  suitable  for  your  text,  or 
it  is  really  only  you  who  must  inspire  the  com- 
poser. You  have  to  feel  the  rhythm,  the  color 
of  the  musical  setting  corresponding  to  each  of 
your  songs. 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE 

WHAT  is  meant  by  the  "atmosphere"  of  a 
song? 

It  is  not  only  the  frame  in  which  the  action 
is  supposed  to  be  placed,  because  that  very 
often  is  vague  or  without  importance. 

Do  not  believe  it  is  the  costume  which  creates 
atmosphere.  A  few  months  ago,  I  heard  two 
singers  singing  some  modern  songs,  wearing 
costumes  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Nevertheless 
no  atmosphere  was  created,  and  in  honor  of 
the  public  I  must  state  that  it  was  in  no  way 
duped  by  that  costume  trick. 

What  then  will  create  atmosphere?  It  is 
style  which  will  help  you  create  atmosphere. 
The  style !  The  most  precious  gift  of  all. 

We  shall  take  once  more  as  an  example 
La  Lfyende  de  Saint  Nicolas. 

I  have  shown  you  in  the  first  chapter  how  the 
voice  is  to  be  treated  in  accordance  with  the 
text  of  the  song.  We  have  learned  that  colora- 

36 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  37 

tion  of  the  voice  is  one  means  of  creating 
atmosphere. 

Now  you  will  see  how  you  can  define  your 
atmosphere  further  by  style,  by  the  diverse 
movements  given  according  to  the  text.  By 
movement,  however,  is  not  meant  the  rhythm. 
By  movement  we  mean  the  different  expres- 
sions of  the  plastic. 

The  principal  personage  in  the  song,  he  who 
gives  it  its  title,  is  Saint  Nicholas.  He  has 
the  most  theatrical  part  in  the  little  play ;  in 
fact,  the  song  is  a  little  drama  treating  an 
episode  in  the  Saint's  life. 

When  we  spoke  of  the  coloration  of  voice,  we 
described  St.  Nicholas,  so  to  say,  vocally  and 
rhythmically. 

We  must  establish  now  the  atmosphere  of 
his  personality. 

When  you  sing : 

Saint  Nicolas  alia  s'asseoir 
Dessus  les  bords  de  ce  saloir 

you  have  to  show  by  way  of  plastic  movements 
the  great  dignity  of  the  Saint.  You  cannot 
imagine  him  hustling  around,  but  you  will 
have  him  walk  majestically,  rhythmically, 
like  the  supernatural  human  being  he  really  is. 


38    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

You  create  the  atmosphere  of  a  song  (and  I 
continue  to  look  at  each  song  as  a  condensed 
drama)  if  you  give  to  each  of  the  persons  ap- 
pearing in  the  song  such  importance  of  action 
as  is  due  to  him. 

In  the  example  we  have  before  us  (La  Legende 
de  St.  Nicolas)  we  have  already  indicated  by 
the  coloration  of  voice  that,  for  instance,  the 
butcher  is  secondary.  He  is  accessory  only, 
a  tool  to  show  the  miraculous  mission  of  the 
Saint.  Only  once  does  he  step  out  from  the 
background,  when  he  sees  himself  discovered 
by  the  Saint  and  tries  to  flee : 

Hors  de  sa  porte  il  s'enfuya  .  .  . 

We  have  tried  to  indicate  by  coloration  of  voice 
the  state  of  mind  of  the  butcher,  frightened  to 
death  by  the  discovery  of  his  crime.  We  have 
tried  to  indicate  his  flight  by  prolonging  the  last 
note  of  enfuyaaaaa ! 

It  is  not  a  question  of  throwing  out  into  the 
audience  a  high  note.  The  interpreter  of  the 
song  has  to  indicate,  discreetly  but  neverthe- 
less plastically,  that  the  butcher  is  striving  to 
get  to  the  door. 

I  might  mention  right  here  an  objection 
which  has  been  made  so  many  times  by  critics. 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  39 

You  hear  them  very  often  say :  "The  concert 
platform  is  not  a  stage.  We  want  to  hear 
singing  but  not  to  see  acting." 

If  such  is  the  case,  it  would  be  sufficient  to 
have  singers  show  the  purity,  the  power,  the 
flexibility  or  the  justness  of  their  voices  by 
singing  the  scale  or  performing  other  vocal 
acrobatics. 

To  sing  a  song  is  to  perform  a  vocal  drama, 
where  the  vocal  skill  is  not  always  of  first 
importance.  The  interpreter  has  to  create  by 
his  interpretative  art  the  atmosphere,  that 
means,  he  has  to  create  for  the  listener  imagi- 
nary scenery,  costumes,  the  different  acting 
personages,  —  in  short  he  must  materialize  the 
text  of  the  song. 

You  understand  of  course  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  establish  binding  rules,  com- 
mandements  which  you  could  learn  by  heart  and 
which  could  teach  you  how  to  color  your  voice 
(of  which  we  have  spoken  in  a  former  chapter), 
or  which  will  teach  you  how  to  create  an  at- 
mosphere (of  which  this  chapter  treats). 

There  is  however  a  principle  to  build  upon. 
That  is  the  full  understanding  of  the  text  of 
the  song,  its  intelligent  penetration.  The  rest 
is  a  matter  of  training,  and  we  train  best  by 
varying  the  example. 


40    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Let  us  therefore  consider  another  song :  Le 
Voyage  de  Joseph  et  Marie  a  Bethleem. 

LE  VOYAGE  DE  JOSEPH   ET  MARIE  A 
BETHLEEM 

Nous  voici  dans  la  ville  ou  naquit  autrefois 
Le  Roi  le  plus  habile  —  David,  le  Roi  des  Rois. 
Aliens  chere  Marie  —  Pres  de  cet  horloger 
Est  une  hotellerie  —  Nous  y  pourrons  loger. 

Le  crieur  de  nuit :  II  est  6  heures. 

Mon  cher  Monsieur,  de  grace,  n'avez-vous  point  chez 

vous 

Quelque  petite  place  —  quelque  chambre  pour  nous  ? 
Vous  perdez  votre  peine,  vous  venez  un  peu  tard 
Ma  maison  est  trop  pleine,  allez  voir  autre  part. 

Le  crieur  de  nuit :  II  est  7  heures. 

Passons  a  1'autre  rue,  laquelle  est  vis  a  vis 
Tout  devant  notre  vue,  je  vois  d'autres  logis. 
Joseph,  ton  bras,  de  grace,  je  ne  puis  plus  marcher 
Je  me  trouve  si  lasse.     II  faut  pourtant  chercher. 

Le  crieur  de  nuit :  II  est  8  heures. 

Patron  des  Trois  Couronnes,  avez-vous  logement 
Chez  vous,   pour  deux  personnes?    Quelque  trou 

seulement? 

J'ai  noble  compagnie  dont  j'aurai  du  profit 
Je  hais  le  gueuserie  —  c'est  tout  dire,  il  suffit ! 
Monsieur,  je  vous  en  prie,  pour  1'amour  du  bon  Dieu 
Dans  votre  h6tellerie,  que  nous  ayons  un  lieu. 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  41 

Cherchez  votre  retraite  autre  part,  charpentier, 
Ma  maison  n'est  point  faite  pour  des  gens  de  metier. 
Le  crieur  de  nuit :  II  est  9  heures. 

Madame  du  Cheval  Rouge  de  grdce  logez-nous 
Dans  quelque  petit  bouge,  ou  quelque  coin  chez  vous. 
Mais  je  n'ai  point  de  place,  je  suis  couche"e  sans  draps 
Ce  soir  sur  la  paillasse,  sans  aucun  matelas. 
O  Madame  I'Hdtesse,  dit  la  Vierge  a  genoux, 
Sensible  a  ma  de*tresse,  recevez-nous  chez  vous. 
Excusez  ma  pense*e,  je  ne  la  puis  cacher. 
Etes  trop  avance*e,  trop  prete  d'accoucher. 

Le  crieur  de  nuit :  II  est  10  heures. 

En  attendant  madame  que  j'ai  un  logement, 
Permettez  que  ma  femme  se  repose  un  moment. 
Tres  volontiers  m'amie,  mettez-vous  sur  le  bane 
Monsieur,  voyez  la  Pie,  ou  bien  le  Cheval  Blanc. 
Assez  causer,  bavarde  !  cria-t-on  dans  la  nuit 
Vas-tu  rester  de  garde,  sur  la  porte  a  minuit  ? 
C'est  mon  mari  qui  crie  !  il  faut  nous  se"parer 
Bonsoir  la  compagnie,  il  faut  nous  en  aller. 

Le  crieur  de  nuit :  II  est  11  heures. 

Dans  I'&at  deplorable  ou  Joseph  est  re"duit 
II  de"couvre  une  Stable  malgre"  la  sombre  nuit. 
C'est  la  seule  retraite  qui  reste  a  son  espoir 
Ainsi  que  le  proph£te  avait  su  le  pre*voir. 

(12  coups)  Le  crieur :  Minuit ! 

Noel!    Noel!    Noel! 

II  est  n6  le  Divin  enfant ! 

Sonnez  hauts  bois,  re*sonnez  musettes 

II  est  n6  le  Divin  enfant ! 


42    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Sonnez  hauts  bois,  re*sonnez  longtemps 
Depuis  plus  de  quatre  mille  ans 
L'avaient  annonce*  les  prophetes  ; 
Depuis  plus  de  quatre  mille  ans 
Nous  attendions  cet  evenement 
II  est  ne  le  Divin  enfant ! 
Sonnez  hauts  bois,  re"sonnez  musettes 
II  est  n6  le  Divin  enfant ! 
Sonnez  hauts  bois,  re"sonnez  longtemps ! 
Noel!    Noel!    Noel! 


When  I  reconstructed  this  legend  in  the  form 
given  here,  I  first  found  myself  facing  great 
difficulties.  The  text  in  its  original  version 
indicated  the  arrival  of  Joseph  and  Mary  in 
Bethlehem.  They  go  from  house  to  house 
seeking  in  vain  for  a  shelter.  The  hour  of 
Mary's  delivery  —  midnight  —  is  approaching. 
It  is  night  therefore. 

Then  how  create  this  atmosphere?  How 
show  to  you  and  to  myself  —  because  I  must 
be  impressed  myself  by  the  atmosphere,  if  I 
wish  to  impress  the  listener  —  how  show  you 
that  it  is  night,  and  how  picture  the  progress 
of  the  night,  establishing  by  this  progress  the 
final  stage  of  the  voyage  and  the  difficulty  and 
the  delay  in  finding  a  shelter  until  the  last 
supreme  moment. 

I  added  then  to  the  original  text  of  the  song 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  43 

the  cry  of  the  night  watchman  calling  out  the 
hours. 

I  began  with :  II  est  six  heures !  after  the 
first  verse,  indicating  that  six  long  hours  will 
still  have  to  pass,  before  the  Divine  Mother 
will  be  relieved  from  her  pains.  The  refrain 
after  the  second  verse  was :  II  est  sept  heures  ! 
and  so  on.  Sometimes,  not  to  make  it  too 
monotonous,  the  call  is  heard  after  two  verses. 

Naturally  the  atmosphere  will  not  be  created 
by  having  the  hours  shouted  out  with  a  round, 
ample,  generous  voice,  as  a  classic  singer  might 
be  tempted  to  do.  The  call  must  come  as  if 
from  far  distance,  drawn  out,  as  you  hear  some- 
times in  Oriental  countries,  the  call  to  prayer 
from  a  minaret  of  a  mosque. 

The  original  version  of  my  song  contained, 
moreover,  no  final  dramatic  climax.  It  ended 
with  Joseph  finding  the  stable  where  he  could 
shelter  Mary. 

The  great  poetic  emotion  was  lacking,  no 
bright  or  magnificent  color  of  glory  ended  the 
pains  of  the  Divine  Mother;  there  was  no 
triumphant  apotheosis. 

Neither  the  coloring  of  voice  nor  the  creation 
of  atmosphere  proved  to  be  sufficient.  I  had 
to  amplify  the  original  text  by  adding  to  it  a 
verse  of  another  legend  of  the  same  period,  the 


44    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Birth  of  Christ,  a  refrain  full  of  glorious  joy 
and  gratitude : 

Noel !    Noel !    Noel ! 
II  est  lie"  le  Divin  enfant ! 
Sonnez  hauts  bois,  resonnez  musettes  ! 
II  est  ne~  le  Divin  enfant ! 
Sonnez  hauts  bois,  resonnez  longtemps, 
Depuis  plus  de  quatre  mille  ans 
L'avaient  annonce"  les  prophetes ; 
Depuis  plus  de  quatre  mille  ans 
Nous  attendions  cet  e've'nement, 
II  est  ne~  le  Divin  enfant ! 
Sonnez  hauts  bois,  resonnez  musettes 
II  est  n6  le  Divin  enfant ! 
Sonnez  hauts  bois,  resonnez  longtemps  ! 

Noel!    Noel!    Noel! 

Let  me  now  give  another  example  which  will 
illustrate  to  you  that  sometimes  a  theme  in  the 
musical  air  of  the  song  can  give  you  an  inspira- 
tion, either  for  an  amplification  of  text,  or  for 
creating  the  atmosphere,  or  for  both  at  the 
same  time,  as  in  the  case  of  the  song :  La  Mort 
de  Jean  Renaud. 

LA  MORT  DE  JEAN  RENAUD 
Quand  Jean  Renaud  de  guerre  revint 
Tenant  ses  boyaux  dans  ses  mains, 
Sa  m£re  a  la  fenetre  en  haut 
Dit :  voici  v'nir  mon  fils  Renaud  ! 
Renaud,  Renaud,  re"jouis-toi! 
Ta  femme  est  accouche"e  d'un  roi ! 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  45 

Ni  de  ma  femme,  ni  de  mon  fils, 
Mon  cceur  ne  peut  se  re"jouir. 
Je  sens  la  mort  qui  me  transit, 
M£re  faites  dresser  un  lit ! 
Mais  faites-le  dresser  si  bas 
Que  ma  femme  n'entende  pas. 
Et  quand  ce  fut  vers  le  minuit, 
Jean  Renaud  a  rendu  1'esprit. 
Ah  !    Dites-moi  mere  mamie 
Ce  que  j'entends  clouer  ici? 
Ma  fille  c'est  le  charpentier 
Qui  raccommode  1'escalier. 
Ah  !    Dites-moi  m£re  mamie 
Ce  que  j'entends  chanter  ici? 
Ma  fille  c'est  la  procession 
Qui  fait  le  tour  de  la  maison. 
Ah  !     Dites-moi  mere  mamie 
Ce  que  j'entends  pleurer  ici? 
C'est  la  voisine  d'a  cote 
Qui  a  perdu  son  nouveau  ne\ 
Ah  !    Dites-moi  m£re  mamie 
Pourquoi  done  pleurez  vous  aussi? 
Ma  fille  ne  puis  le  cacher, 
Renaud  est  mort  et  enterre". 
Ma  mere,  dites  au  fossoyeu 
Qu'il  creuse  la  fosse  pour  deux ; 
Et  que  le  trou  soit  assez  grand 
Pour  qu'on  y  mette  aussi  1'enfant. 
Terre  ouvre-toi  —  terre  fends-toi ! 
Que  j'aille  re"trouver  mon  roi ! 
Terre  s'ouvrit  —  terre  se  fendit, 
Et  la  belle  rendit  Pesprit. 


46    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 


Jean  Renaud,  a  knight  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
is  returning  from  war,  grievously  wounded. 
His  wife,  who  has  just  given  birth  to  a  child, 
is  in  bed  ;  but  Renaud's  mother  keeps  looking 
out  for  him  on  the  tower  of  the  castle.  She 
sees  him  approaching,  she  greets  him  joyously, 
not  knowing  that  he  is  wounded,  and  announces 
triumphantly  the  birth  of  his  child.  But 
Renaud  feels  that  he  will  die  and  asks  his 
mother  to  have  him  laid  far  away  from  his 
wife's  room,  that  she  might  not  know  either  his 
return  or  his  death.  He  expires  a  short  time 
after  his  arrival. 

Renaud's  wife,  however,  notices  the  unusual 
movements  in  the  house,  the  strange  noises, 
she  hears  the  hammering,  the  nailing  of  the 
coffin.  She  hears  at  last  the  funeral  procession, 
she  questions  the  mother,  who  finally  has  to 
admit  the  sad  end  of  Renaud. 

You  will  notice  that  in  each  verse  the  follow- 
ing four  measures  reappear  : 


ma  fil  -    le     .     .       cest          la        pro     -     ces  - 


^J      JH"^ 


sion       qui    fait     le      tour       de        la        mai  -  son ! 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  47 

These  few  measures  give  a  great  opportunity 
to  create  an  atmosphere,  to  indicate  that  death 
has  entered  the  castle. 

You  lower  your  voice  during  the  four  meas- 
ures in  that  particular  stanza,  you  sing  with 
the  voice  of  a  chorister,  you  give  the  illusion 
of  those  few  measures  being  sung  by  a  number 
of  monks  in  the  funeral  procession.  The  illu- 
sion becomes  complete  if  you  amplify  the  text 
by  adding  to  that  verse : 

Ma  fille,  c'est  la  procession 
Qui  fait  le  tour  de  la  maison ! 

the  following : 

Requiescat  in  pace ! 
Requiescat  in  pace ! 

sung  with  the  same  air. 

The  same  four  measures  return  in  each  verse, 
also  in  the  dialogue  between  the  mother  and 
daughter  who  questions  her  about  what  she 
hears  or  believes  she  has  heard. 

But  while  the  wife  of  Renaud  uses  them  with 
a  strong  voice,  intensified  by  her  anxiety  to 
know  the  truth,  the  mother's  reply  is  given 
with  an  almost  extinct  voice.  She  hardly 
raises  her  voice,  she  tries  to  quiet  her  down, 
she  remembers  her  promise  given  to  Renaud 
to  conceal  his  death. 


48    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

DAUGHTER 

Ah  !  dites-moi,  ma  mere  mamie, 
Ce  que  j'entends  pleurer  ici? 

MOTHER 

C'est  la  voisine  d'a  c6te" 
Qui  a  perdu  son  nouveau  lie"! 

Before  concluding  this  chapter  I  wish  to 
return  once  again  to  the  song  by  Jules  Laforgue, 
Notre  Petite  Compagne,  which  we  have  dis- 
cussed when  speaking  of  the  amplification  of 
the  text. 

You  remember  I  mentioned  that  Notre  Pe- 
tite Compagne  was  a  poem  which  I  wanted 
to  use  as  a  song.  I  have  explained  how  I  tried 
to  amplify  the  meaning  of  the  song  by  using 
the  first  verse,  which  appeared  to  me  the  quintes- 
sence of  the  poem,  as  a  refrain  after  each  verse. 

It  remained  to  establish  the  atmosphere  of 
the  song. 

The  words  of  the  poem  indicate  that  the  at- 
mosphere in  which  Notre  Petite  Compagne 
(it  means  from  the  point  of  view  of  men  "Our 
little  mate")  lives,  is  rather  frivolous.  We 
could  easily  imagine  her  sitting  at  a  little  marble 
table  in  one  of  the  Parisian  night  caf  6s,  smoking 
a  cigarette  and  listening  to  the  playing  of  a 
gipsy  band. 


HOW  TO  CREATE  ATMOSPHERE  49 

You  have  heard  me  sing  the  song,  and  you 
understand  why,  when  singing,  I  smoke  a  cig- 
arette, and  you  understand  why  I  have  chosen 
as  music  for  this  song  the  air  of  a  popular  waltz, 
a  favorite  of  cabarets  and  dancing  halls. 

I  am  giving  the  song  half  singing,  half  recit- 
ing. You  are  under  the  impression  that  you 
hear  the  strains  of  a  gipsy  band. 

You  have  not  only  the  atmosphere  of  the 
song.  You  have,  I  may  say,  almost  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  woman's  soul  pictured  outwardly 
in  every  line,  in  every  detail,  by  her  lips  keeping 
the  cigarette,  by  her  eyes,  by  her  hands,  by 
her  arms  .  .  .  provocation  .  .  .  sensuality  .  .  . 
perversity. 


THE    EXPRESSION    OF    THE    DIFFERENT 
FORMS  OF  TRAGEDY 

IT  appears  to  me  that  there  are  two  forms  of 
tragic  expression  in  dramatic  art. 

An  exterior  form  and  an  interior  form  of  ex- 
pression. 

The  exterior  form  of  tragic  expression  is  the 
one  you  show  when  you  are  witness  of  a  trag- 
edy, when  you  have  to  describe,  to  picture  to 
another,  a  tragic  episode. 

The  interior  form  of  tragic  expression  is  the 
one  you  will  show,  or  rather  feel,  when  you  are 
the  hero  or  the  victim  of  a  tragic  episode,  when 
you  are  yourself  the  acting  agent  of  the  tragedy. 

But  why  should  such  a  subtle  difference  be 
established?  Because  the  human  soul  is  not 
created  to  express  a  tragic  episode  which  be- 
falls a  fellow  man  with  the  same  power  of  sor- 
row as  one  which  touches  itself.  It  is  an  ex- 
ceptional case  when  a  human  being  suffers  as 
much  from  the  sorrows  of  others  as  from  its 
own  sorrows. 

50 


DIFFERENT  FORMS  OF  TRAGEDY         51 

You  remember  that  we  have  spoken  in  a 
previous  chapter  of  a  song  La  Glu,  by  Richepin. 
The  song  told  us  of  a  woman  who  sent  out  her 
lover  to  kill  his  mother  and  to  bring  his  mother's 
heart  to  her  dog. 

However  tragically  the  song  may  be  inter- 
preted, the  tragic  episode  must  appear  before 
us  as  a  vision  of  the  interpreter;  he  will  not, 
because  he  could  not,  impress  us  as  if  the  trag- 
edy he  visualizes  were  his  own  action. 

Now  to  illustrate  the  difference  in  the  ex- 
terior and  interior  form  of  expression  of  tragedy, 
I  shall  discuss  with  you  the  interpretation  of 
two  songs.  Both  belong  to  my  old  repertoire, 
though  they  are  modern  songs.  They  treat  of 
two  Parisian  types,  low  types  of  the  Paris 
slums. 

I  have  chosen  these  two  songs  because  they 
give  me  the  opportunity,  the  supreme  oppor- 
tunity, of  a  tragic  episode  which  could  hardly 
be  surpassed  in  tragic  intensity.  It  is  Death ! 
Not  the  natural  death  which  relieves  from  ill- 
ness, not  the  natural  death  which  concludes 
peacefully  a  long  life  —  useful  to  ourselves  or 
to  others.  It  is  violent  death,  not  the  sudden 
death  of  accident  either,  but  the  violent  death 
by  the  guillotine,  the  premeditated,  sudden, 
pitiless  ending  of  a  strong,  youthful  life  pushed 


52    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

on  the  way  of  crime  more  by  circumstances 
than  by  its  own  wickedness. 

The  song  which  illustrates  the  exterior  form 
of  tragedy  is  La  Pierreuse. 

The  word  is  a  typical  Parisian  expression 
for  a  prostitute,  the  streetwalker.  She  wears 
out  the  stones,  les  pierres,  of  the  sidewalk. 

Vice  has  not  wholly  annihilated  her  senti- 
mentality. Her  horrible  profession  has  not 
entirely  choked  her  heart.  She  is  yearning 
for  affection  and  she  finds  it  in  the  type  of  whom 
our  second  song  —  under  the  title  Ma  Tete  — 
speaks. 

This  type  is  what  we  call  in  Paris  L' Apache. 
He  is  the  protector  of  La  Pierreuse,  with  revolver 
or  knife  always  ready  in  his  hand.  The  woman 
in  return  for  his  protection  takes  care  of  his 
material  welfare ;  both  are  each  other's  moral 
help,  if  one  may  use  such  a  word,  the  morality 
consisting  only  in  an  affection  which  hardly 
ever  goes  beyond  a  physical  congeniality. 

The  songs  I  have  indicated  are  written  in 
slang.  Of  course  neither  La  Pierreuse  nor 
L' Apache  speaks  the  language  of  the  Academic 
Franchise.  However,  you  understand  [in  the 
third  verse  of  the  song  La  Pierreuse]  that  the 
girl  describes  the  execution  of  her  lover. 


DIFFERENT  FORMS  OF  TRAGEDY         53 

JTapergois  la-bas  .  .  .  sous  la  porte  .  .  . 
Le  cure"  lui  parle  sans  temois  .  .  . 
Sur  la  bascule,  il  faut  qu'on  1'porte  .  .  . 
Un  camarade  Pappelle  de  loin  .  .  . 
Pi,  Quit ! 

Y  n'a  pas  1'temps  de  1'dire  deux  fois, 
On  Tcouche  sur  la  chose  en  bois  ! 
Tirelitipiton  !     Hue  done  !    Aie  done  I 
L'bourreau  tire  le  cordon ; 
La  tete,  le  tronc 
Tombent  dans  1'panier  de  son ; 
C'que,  c.a  s'fait  vite  .  .  . ! 
Pi,  Quit ! 

She  sees  him  stepping  out  of  the  prison  door, 
accompanied  by  the  priest  who  consoles  him  ; 
he  is  not  very  courageous,  he  is  almost  carried 
to  the  scaffold.  A  pal,  who  is  in  the  crowd, 
calls  out  to  him  to  give  him  courage.  In  no 
time  his  head  is  put  on  the  block  and  the  knife 
lowered  by  the  executioner. 

In  the  other  song,  Ma  T&te,  —  sometimes  it 
appeared  in  my  programs  under  the  title 
L 'Apache  —  you  will  see  the  same  tragic  epi- 
sode, the  execution  of  L'Apache.  The  last 
verse  describes  almost  in  the  same  words  the 
same  situation;  the  condemned  is  awakened 
by  the  prison  guard,  who  announces  to  him 
that  the  hour  of  expiation  has  arrived.  He  is 


54    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

dressed  for  the  execution,  he  walks  out  of  the 
prison,  approaches  the  scaffold. 

Between  his  leaving  the  prison  door  and  his 
execution  seconds  only  pass,  but  it  is  long 
enough  for  him  to  conceive  the  full  vision  of  his 
death,  of  his  head  cut  off  rolling  into  the  basket ; 
he  has  even  the  vision  —  perhaps  this  consoles 
him  —  of  a  respectful  crowd  saluting  bare- 
headed the  man  whom  Death  exonerates. 

Et  puis  voila  .  .  .  j'suis  condamne", 
Parcequ'il  est  prouve"  qu'j'assassine  .  .  . 
Et  faut  qu'j'attende  pale,  vanne* 
L'moment  supreme  de  la  guillotine.  .  .  . 
Et  puis  un  beau  jour  on  m'dira 
C'est  pour  ce  matin  !     Faites  votr'toilette  ! 
J'sortirai  ...  la  foule  saluera 
Ma  t&e ! 

Now  we  have  in  each  song  the  same  poignant, 
tragic  episode,  the  drama  of  the  guillotine. 
But  in  the  case  of  La  Pierreuse  the  drama  is 
seen,  in  the  case  of  L' Apache  it  is  lived. 

La  Pierreuse  is  communicating  to  us  her 
emotion,  but  it  is  the  emotion  of  death  she  sees, 
it  is  not  the  emotion  of  L 'Apache  who  will 
experience  death. 

La  Pierreuse  will  look  in  deadly  fear  at  her 
lover  marching  toward  death,  but  L' Apache 


DIFFERENT  FORMS  OF  TRAGEDY         55 

will  stare  with  white  eyes,  almost  hypnotized, 
at  the  scaffold  which  is  to  bring  him  death. 
'  The  one  is  the  exterior,  the  second  is  the  in- 
terior expression  of  tragedy,  which  you  will 
also  distinguish  by  the  different  coloration  of 
voice. 

La  Pierreuse  is  pretty  far  away  from  the 
real  scene  of  death,  her  voice  becomes  shrill, 
her  instinct  tells  her  that  her  last  call :  Pi,  Quit! 
to  her  lover  has  to  overcome  space. 

I  am  placing,  when  singing  this  Pi,  Quit,  the 
voice  between  the  eyes. 

In  the  song  L' Apache  the  last  words  of  the 
condemned  man :  J'sortirai,  etc.,  are  uttered 
with  a  hoarse  voice,  almost  strangled ;  the  fear 
of  death  —  it  is  now  almost  physical  fear  - 
paralyzes  his  voice,  it  places  his  body  out  of 
his  control. 

I  place  the  voice  in  the  throat. 

Although  the  examples  I  have  chosen  are 
rather  morbid,  I  think  they  are  very  instruc- 
tive. 

Perhaps  I  should  add  that  the  description  of 
such  tragic  episodes  is  not  imaginary.  The 
laws  in  France  demand  publicity  of  capital 
executions.  The  condemned  man  cannot  be 
executed  within  the  prison  walls.  He  is  led 


56    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

outside  of  the  prison ;  the  authorities  are  char- 
itable enough  not  to  prolong  his  torment. 
Within  a  short  distance  from  the  prison  the 
scaffold  is  erected.  The  crowd  —  in  spite  of 
the  early  hour,  there  is  a  crowd  —  is  kept  a 
great  distance  from  the  scaffold. 

The  Place  de  la  Roquette  in  Paris  was  the 
scene  of  these  tragic  episodes,  which,  by  the  way, 
I  have  never  witnessed. 

Now  do  not  think  my  distinction  between 
exterior  or  interior  form  of  expression  of  trag- 
edy applies  only  to  lyric  interpretation,  it  ap- 
plies also  to  dramatic  interpretation.  In  fact, 
there  is  only  one  interpretation  of  dramatic 
art,  be  it  an  opera,  a  tragedy,  or  a  comedy,  as 
there  is  one  technique  for  an  antique  tragedy 
by  Euripides,  a  modern  tragedy  by  Racine  or 
Corneille,  or  even  a  simple  song. 

As  I  have  often  repeated,  the  song  is  nothing 
else  than  a  condensed  drama. 

Its  interpretation  is  as  difficult  as  it  is  easy. 

Difficult  because  you  bear  the  whole  burden 
of  its  interpretation,  easy  because  you  are  in- 
dependent and  unhampered.  You  are  alone 
on  the  stage,  each  spot  of  it  is  by  your  will  the 
center  beyond  the  dispute  and  beyond  the  envy 
of  inferior  collaborators.  You  are  the  only 


DIFFERENT  FORMS  OF  TRAGEDY         57 

star,  you  are  your  own  stage  manager,  you  are 
sometimes  your  own  librettist  and  composer, 
your  costumer. 

If  you  are  loyal  to  yourself,  you  will  be  your 
own  critic  and  perhaps  the  most  reliable. 

You  will  be  your  own  property  man  and  you 
will  very  judiciously  provide  for  your  little  play 
the  vital  accessories  —  talent  instead  of  routine, 
distinction  instead  of  vulgarity,  observation 
which  you  will  train  by  studying  mankind 
around  you,  and  above  all  instruction  instead 
of  ignorance. 

We  are  unfortunately  still  far  from  the  ideal 
standard  of  dramatic  art,  to  which  the  doors 
are  widely  opened  —  rightly  or  wrongly  —  to 
every  one  who  wishes  to  enter  with  or  without 
vocation  for  it. 

Not  the  most  modest  musician,  painter,  or 
sculptor  will  dare  knock  at  the  door  of  his  art 
without  carrying  with  him  the  baggage  of  long, 
laborious  preparatory  studies ;  but  some  young 
man  or  woman  will  decide  within  twenty-four 
hours  to  go  on  the  stage,  in  spite  of  a  total  ig- 
norance of  letters  and  of  art,  which  could  afford 
intellectual  nourishment  to  their  power  of  ex- 
pression. 

For  in  our  days  the  dramatic  artists  —  at 
least  the  great  majority  of  them  —  the  inter- 


58    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

preters  in  act  and  gesture  of  the  thought  of 
men  of  letters,  know  little  or  nothing  about 
literature. 

The  dramatic  artist  cannot  create  without 
having  worked. 

He  shows  to  the  public  his  final  creation,  the 
result  of  his  work,  which  ought  to  be  based  on 
intellectuality,  solidly  founded  on  knowledge. 

Without  knowing  you  cannot  be  intellectual. 
There  is  no  real  Art  without  intellectuality. 
You  are  more  artistic  when  you  combine  sensi- 
bility with  your  intellectuality.  Your  sensi- 
bility will  inspire  you  to  beautify  your  creation. 

It  is  true  that  the  dramatic  artist's  mission 
is  to  present  human  truth ;  however,  he  has 
not  to  give  mechanically  and  faithfully  an 
imitation  of  life.  He  must  in  his  art  only  re- 
flect the  human  truth. 

In  presenting  the  ugly  he  must  show  us  a  ray 
of  beauty,  in  presenting  despair  a  beam  of  hope. 
Show  how  the  cruel  assassin  goes  to  the  scaf- 
fold to  expiate  his  crime,  but  let  him  in  his  last 
second  be  rehabilitated  before  God  and  men. 

The  dramatic  artist  shall  not  be  a  photog- 
rapher, but  a  painter.  His  art  shall  have  all 
arts  for  its  servants  and  his  inspiration  shall 
come  from  nature,  color,  from  harmonious 
sound,  from  marble. 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT 

THE   EXPRESSION   OF  JOY  AS   CHAR- 
ACTERIZED IN  COLORS  — GRAY, 
PURPLE,  AND  RED 

EVERY  human  being  possesses  a  certain 
amount  of  sensitiveness,  therefore  even  an 
average  artist  may  be  able  to  interpret  ade- 
quately a  tragic  song  or  a  tragic  dramatic  action. 

However,  to  be  able  to  impregnate  oneself 
with  comic  spirit  requires  a  natural  gift.  You 
cannot  study  how  to  acquire  a  gift  from  nature, 
you  will  lose  your  precious  time.  You  have  it 
or  you  have  it  not. 

This  gift  of  nature  goes  generally  with  an- 
other gift,  that  of  health.  You  do  not  see  a 
sick  person  imbued  with  a  sense  of  comedy. 

Nature  has  given  it  not  only  to  the  healthy 
body  but  also  to  the  healthy  mind.  You  will 
find  that  a  character  of  equable  disposition  is 
capable  of  a  gayety  which  is  refused  to  a  capri- 
cious or  nervous  character. 

59 


60    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

The  comic  spirit  is  sometimes  even  a  national 
gift.  The  Latin  race  possesses  a  greater  sense 
of  humor  than  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

It  might  be  that  the  comic  capacity  —  if  I 
may  use  this  word  —  of  a  race  is  also  dependent 
on  his  geographical  situation. 

The  gayety  of  spirit  is  surely  more  developed 
in  radiant  Italy  than  in  the  Scandinavian  mists. 

The  esprit  of  France,  which  is  in  fact  the 
humor  of  French  intellect,  is  so  essentially 
French  and  unique,  that  the  word  has  remained 
French  and  in  this  sense  untranslatable. 

May-be  that  the  French  sun,  which  is  in 
southern  France  of  tropical  character,  ripens 
our  wine,  and  at  the  same  time  our  sense  of 
humor,  which  would  not  prosper  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  ice-water  and  ginger  ale. 

The  lack  of  humor  of  the  Briton  is  pro- 
verbial. 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  have  ever  heard 
of  a  famous  French  journalist  and  polemist, 
Henri  Rochefort,  known  by  his  esprit  and  caus- 
tic wit. 

He  thought  he  could  not  pay  me  a  higher 
compliment  than  by  dedicating  to  me  the  fol- 
lowing words : 

Gloire  &  Yvette  Guilbert.  Elle  a  trouve  moyen 
de  faire  rire  les  Anglais. 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT  61 

(Translation :  Glory  for  Yvette  Guilbert. 
She  succeeded  in  making  the  English  laugh.) 

If,  therefore,  I  have  to  give  you  directions 
or  indications  in  regard  to  expression  of  Comic 
Spirit,  I  have  to  presume  that  you  are  genuine 
possessors  of  this  gift  of  nature. 

You  will  of  course  realize  at  once  that  the 
gayety  and  the  humor,  which  prevail  in  you, 
have  different  weights,  determined  by  a  natural 
measure,  created  by  nature  itself  .  .  .  the 
laugh ! 

Not  your  laugh,  but  the  laugh  you  produce. 

There  is  humor  which  produces  a  smile, 
humor  which  produces  a  big  laugh,  humor 
which  produces  a  roaring,  almost  hysterical 
laugh. 

That  I  might  be  able  to  illustrate  by  examples 
the  different  shades  of  Comic  Spirit,  I  have 
chosen  for  each  shade  a  different  color  —  Gray, 
Red,  Purple,  and  Vermillion. 

Now  if  I  speak  of  Gray  in  reference  to  an 
expression  of  Comic  Spirit,  I  do  not  wish  to 
indicate  that  the  expression  is  monotonous. 

The  neutral  color  indicates  the  distinction 
of  the  humor,  a  quiet  and  refined  gayety.  It 
is  to  produce  what  we  call  so  elegantly  in 
French :  Le  sourire  du  coin  de  la  levre.  A 


smile  on  the  borders  of  your  lips,  as  you  might 
say. 

The  song  La  Defense  Inutile  will  illustrate 
what  I  have  just  explained. 

LA  DEFENSE   INUTILE 
(Rondeau,  XVIII6  siecle) 

Toutes  ces  meres, 

TOU jours  severes 

A  leurs  fillettes  dependent  d'aimer. 

Vaine  defense, 

Quand,  des  1'enfance, 

D'un  feu  brulant  on  se  sent  enflammer ; 

On  sent  de"ja  malgre"  son  innocence, 

On  sent  de"ja 

Qu'on  est  faite  pour  §a. 

Lorsqu'on  arrange 

Coiffure  Fontange, 

Prend-on  pour  soi  toutes  ces  peines-la? 

On  nous  admire, 

L'on  nous  fait  sourire, 

Qui  cherche  a  plaire 

Bient6t  aimera ; 

On  sent  de"ja  que  le  coeur  vous  inspire, 

On  sent  de"ja  qu'on  est  faite  pour  ga. 

Quand  on  peint  la  flamme 
Dont  brule  notre  ame, 
On  tremble,  on  rougit, 
On  a  Pair  interdit. 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT 

Jusqu'a  la  pudeur, 

Tout  trahit  un  coeur, 

Rougit-on,  he"las ! 

De  ce  qu'on  entend  pas? 

On  devient  tendre, 

Peut-on  se  de"fendre, 

On  sent  de"ja  qu'on  est  faite  pour  ca. 

On  voit  un  amant, 

Mais  timidement, 

On  baisse  les  yeux 

Pour  le  regarder  mieux. 

D'ou  vient  ce  de"sir? 

D'ou  vient  qu'un  soupir 

Presse  1'estomac, 

Que  le  coeur  fait  tic-tac  ? 

L'amant  nous  presse, 

Sa  peine  inte"resse, 

On  sent  de"ja  qu'on  est  faite  pour  §a. 

La  bonne  amie 

Est  moins  che"rie 

Que  cet  amant 

Qu'on  n'a  vu  qu'un  moment. 

Quand  il  sait  plaire 

II  devient  te'me'raire, 

Et  Ton  excuse  1'audace  qu'il  a. 

Et  puis  notre  trouble 

Redouble, 

Et  puis  on  aime, 

Et  tout  finit  par  la. 

On  sent  d6ja  malgr6  son  innocence, 

On  sent  de"ja  qu'on  est  faite  pour  $a. 


64    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

The  second  color  we  have  chosen  for  our 
expressions  of  Comic  Spirit  is  Red.  The 
comic  spirit  which  produces  a  big,  hearty  laugh 
and  which  I  consider  the  limit  of  good  taste 
in  comedy. 

Of  course,  just  as  we  have  farces  on  the  stage, 
so  we  have  farcical  songs.  We  must  avoid  an 
exaggerated  interpretation,  drifting  into  vul- 
garity, avoid  the  slap-stick  of  the  clown,  but 
all  the  same  give  to  the  joyous  Red  all  its 
brightness  and  not  dilute  the  color  with 
water. 

To  illustrate  the  red  color,  I  have  chosen  a 
song  the  title  of  which  is  Que  I' 'amour  cause  de 
peine!  It  is  a  farcical  peasant  song. 

A  peasant  boy,  rather  silly,  tells  how  he  puts 
on  his  Sunday  dress  to  make  a  visit  to  his  sweet- 
heart, and  is  knocking  at  her  door ;  but  at  the 
very  moment  he  is  going  to  step  into  the  door, 
he  slips  and  falls  in  the  mud.  When  he  gets 
up  and  approaches  his  sweetheart,  her  mother 
ridicules  him  in  such  a  manner  that  he  runs 
off  quite  ashamed  and  quite  aware  of  his 
silliness. 

The  song  contains  no  powerful  comic  action, 
it  is  entirely  a  matter  of  interpreting  the  type 
of  a  silly  boy,  a  type  you  find  among  Moliere's 
famous  valets. 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT  65 

As  you  will  see,  there  is  a  refrain  to  each  verse 
in  the  song.  This  refrain  you  have  to  express 
in  the  mood  of  each  verse. 

In  the  first  refrain  you  have  to  indicate  a 
naive,  self-satisfied  vanity.  The  boy  has  put 
on,  as  he  says,  his  best  shirt  and  his  big  hat. 
Je  suis  un  gars  comme  ilfaut! 

In  the  second  refrain  you  make  him  lose  his 
countenance  a  little ;  he  knocks  at  his  sweet- 
heart's door,  but  she  rather  hesitates  to 
open. 

Then  his  accident  happens,  he  slips  on  the 
wet  pavement.  Here,  in  the  refrain,  he  is  whin- 
ing almost  like  a  child.  He  is  getting  up  again, 
not  without  difficulty.  He  recovers  his  courage 
and  embraces  his  sweetheart ;  he  is  not  tri- 
umphant, but  rather  awkward,  —  you  hear  it 
in  the  refrain  of  this  verse.  He  is  content 
again  to  have  found  the  way  back  to  his  sweet- 
heart, he  is  grinning;  but  the  rough  voice  of 
his  girl's  mother  throws  him  back  into  help- 
lessness. She  calls  him  logger-head,  tells  him 
that  her  daughter  is  not  created  to  "wipe  his 
snout" !  He  feels  ashamed,  dazzled,  he  creeps 
away,  almost  like  a  beaten  dog.  His  last  re- 
frain is  confused,  stammering. 


66    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

QUE  L' AMOUR  CAUSE  DE  PEINE ! 

L'autr'jour  me  prit  envie 
D'aller  voir  mon  Ysabeau,  (bis) 
Je  pris  ma  belle  chemise 
Et  mon  grand  joli  chapeau. 

Refrain : 

Ah  !  que  1'amour  cause  de  peine, 
Ah  !  que  1'amour  cause  de  maux  ! 

Je  pris  ma  belle  chemise 

Et  mon  grand  joli  chapeau,  (bis) 

—  Belle,  belle  ouvre  ta  porte ; 
Je  suis  un  gars  comme  il  faut ! 

Refrain : 
Ah  !  que  1'amour,  etc. 

—  Belle,  belle  ouvre  ta  porte ; 

Je  suis  un  gars  comme  il  faut,  (bis) 
Mais  la  place  e"tait  mouille'e, 
Je  glissis  et  j'fis  un  saut ! 

Refrain  : 
Ah  !  que  1'amour,  etc. 

Mais  la  place  e"tait  mouille'e, 
Je  glissis  et  j'fis  un  saut,  (bis) 
Quand  j'fus  relVe",  a  grand  peine 
J'embrassis  mon  Ysabeau. 

Refrain : 

Ah  !  que  1'amour  cause  de  peine, 
Ah  !  que  1'amour  cause  de  maux  ! 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT 


67 


L'autr*  jour  il      me    prit    en  -  vi  -   e,     d'al  •  ler 


i     1 


-*-^r 

voir    mon  Y  -  sa  beau,     d'al  -  ler   voir  mon  Y  -  sa  - 


-tr,  --  f 


beau     je     pris  ma    plus  bell'  che  -  mi  -  se     Et    mon 


grand  jo  •  li      cha  -  peau        ah'  qu'1'a-mour  caus'  de 


± 


1 


fs 


pel   -   ne      ah !     qu'l'a     mour    caus'  de     maux. 

Quand  j'fus  relev6  a  grand  peine 
J'embrassis  mon  Ysabeau  (bis) 
Mais  sa  mere  6tait  derriSre 
Qui  me  dit :  "  Vilain  lourdaud  !" 

Refrain : 
Ah  !  que  1'amour,  etc. 

Mais  sa  mere  e"tait  demure 
Qui  me  dit :  "Vilain  lourdaud  !"  (bis) 
"Crou6-tu  que  ma  fille  est  faite 
Pour  te  torcher  le  museau?" 


68    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Refrain : 
Ah  !  que  1'amour,  etc. 

"  Crou6-tu  que  ma  fille  est  faite 
Pour  te  torcher  le  museau?"  (bis) 
Ma  foue",  je  m'sentis  Fair  bete 
Que  j 'partis  comme  un  nigaud. 

Refrain : 
Ah  !  que  ramour,  etc. 

There  remains  now  to  illustrate  the  expres- 
sion of  comic  spirit  which  I  have  qualified  as 
Purple. 

I  am  choosing  as  an  example  a  song  called 
L'Hdtel  du  No.  3.  It  is  a  modern  song,  a  song 
of  the  Parisian  Latin  Quarter ;  it  is  a  student's 
song.  The  comedy  of  the  song  is  not  based 
on  any  comic  action  nor  on  any  comic  accent. 
I  used  to  call  these  songs  Chansons  immobiles, 
no  gesture,  hardly  any  coloration  of  the  voice  in- 
dicate the  comedy.  Their  humor  is  in  their 
words,  their  meaning,  if  you  wish,  in  their 
double-meaning  even. 

The  listener  of  the  song  shall  not  hear  but 
see  the  raillery  in  your  eyes ;  you  will  accen- 
tuate purposely  the  lack  of  accent  in  your  voice. 
The  interpreter  has  to  appear,  as  we  say  in 
French,  as  a  pince-sans-rire,  a  comique-ct-froid 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT  69 

(I  do  not  know  an  adequate  translation;  the 
nearest  might  be  a  "sly  one"  a  "cold-storage 
comic.") 

I/HOTEL  DU  NO.   3 

(Chanson  de  Xanrof) 

J'habite  pres  de  Pe'cole  de  medecine, 
Au  premier,  tout  comme  un  bourgeois ; 
Une  demeure  magnifique,  divine, 
A  I'h6tel  du  No.  3  ! 

II  y  a,  pour  que  tous  aient  leurs  aises, 
Des  lits  de  fer  et  des  lits  en  bois, 
Et  de  toutes  sortes  de  punaises 
A  Th6tel  du  No.  3  ! 

Les  draps  sont  grands  comme  des  serviettes, 
II  n'y  a  qu'un  seul  module  je  crois ; 
Et  c'est  le  chien  qui  lave  les  assiettes 
A  1'hotel  du  No.  3  ! 

Une  grande  fraternity  regne ; 
Les  voisins  y  sont  trds  courtois, 
Et  nous  avons  tous  le  meme  peigne 
A  1'hdtel  du  No.  3  ! 

On  y  fait  parfaitement  vot'chambre, 
On  la  balaie  meme  .  .  .  quelque  fois, 
Mais  ga  n'sent,  ni  le  lubin  ni  1'ambre 
A  1'hdtel  du  No.  3  ! 

Notre  potage  roule  dans  ses  vagues, 
Tant  de  cheveux,  que  chaque  mois 
Les  clients  s'en  font  faire  des  bagues 
A  1'hdtel  du  No.  3  ! 


70    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

La  bonne  n'est  pas  une  tres  belle  fille, 
Mais  nous  n'tenons  pas  au  minois, 
On  lui  fait  la  cour  en  famille 
A  1'hdtel  du  No.  3  ! 

You  remember  that  I  have  spoken  of  four 
colors  by  which  I  have  indicated  the  shades  of 
comic  expression  —  Gray,  Red,  Purple,  and 
Vermillion. 

I  have  not  given  an  example  of  Vermillion, 
because  I  cannot  illustrate  the  comic  spirit  cor- 
responding to  the  last  named  color. 

Nothing  in  the  literature  of  French  songs, 
even  of  the  most. remote  period,  offers  an  oc- 
casion of  utilizing  an  expression  of  comedy, 
which  I  would  call  the  coarse  "comedy  of 
grimaces"  —  grimaces  of  face,  as  well  as  gri- 
maces of  voice. 

The  words  of  songs,  which  we  know,  show  not 
a  trace  of  the  utility  even  of  such  grimaces. 
These  grimaces  were  introduced  in  France 
during  the  seventeenth  century  by  the  Italian 
jesters,  headed  by  Scaramouche,  who  exhibited 
their  low  comedy  on  the  Pont  Neuf  in  Paris. 

Their  comedy  consisted  mainly  in  distorting 
their  faces,  which  made  their  public,  a  crowd 
of  servants,  soldiers,  chair-carriers,  bar-keepers, 
and  street-loiterers  of  both  sexes,  roar  with 
laughter. 


THE  COMIC  SPIRIT  71 

We  have  on  our  modern  stage  descendants 
of  these  low  comedians,  but  their  antics  can 
hardly  be  considered  as  art,  even  of  a  lower 
degree.  They  are  useless  and  auxiliary  only 
to  impoverished  artists,  who  are  unable  to  pro- 
voke a  laugh  in  another  way. 

To  resume !  I  repeat  that  I  have  no  inten- 
tion of  establishing  a  theory  of  expression  of 
the  comic  spirit. 

I  have  said  the  sense  of  humor  is  a  natural 
gift  and  an  artist  will  be  able  to  sing  a  comic 
song  or  play  a  comedy  or  a  farce  only  accord- 
ing to  his  own  sense  of  humor. 

We  have  in  our  French  literature  gems  of 
human  comedy  in  the  works  of  Moliere.  Have 
they  been  played  or  are  they  played  as  they 
should  be?  I  hardly  think  so. 

Venerable  dramatic  artists,  possibly  without 
any  sense  of  humor  or  with  a  limited  sense  of 
humor,  have  built  up  a  tradition  how  to  play 
Moliere.  We  all  know  that  tradition  is  a 
strait-jacket  put  on  every  artistic  tempera- 
ment. Other  artists,  familiar  with  the  history 
of  literature,  who  have  read  that  Moliere  was 
an  actor  of  the  streets  and  that  he  took  lessons 
from  Scaramouche  how  to  make  funny  faces, 
how  to  move  his  chin,  how  to  lift  his  eyes,  how 
to  move  his  wig  by  a  muscular  effort  of  his 


72    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

forehead  or  of  his  ears,  how  to  paint  his  mouth 
larger  .  .  .  concluded  that  his  comedies  should 
be  played  as  low  farces.  But  while  Moliere 
was  in  verity  a  delicate  satirist  and  brilliant 
writer,  he  was  a  decidedly  bad  actor. 

And  probably  none  of  us  has  seen  or  will  see 
Moliere  properly  presented,  as  it  is  humanly 
impossible  to  assemble  a  company  of  players, 
each  of  them  in  possession  of  that  divine  gift 
of  nature,  a  sense  of  humor. 


THE  PLASTIC  ART 

IF  you  appear  on  a  platform  or  on  a  stage  to 
play  in  a  drama,  or  to  sing  in  opera,  or  to  sing 
a  simple  song,  there  must  be  an  absolute 
harmony  between  the  expression  of  your  art, 
be  it  acting  or  singing,  and  your  body. 

I  shall  go  further  and  say  that  even  before 
you  have  the  opportunity  of  expressing  your 
art,  your  physical  appearance  must  prepare 
the  public  that  it  will  experience  perfect  art  - 
that  it  will  not  be  shocked  by  a  discord  between 
the  art  and  the  exterior  of  the  artist. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  while  each  in- 
dividual of  a  large  audience  might  be  personally 
more  or  less  receptive,  more  or  less  indifferent, 
the  ensemble  of  an  audience  is  nevertheless 
most  sensitive.  A  crowd  is  easier  moved  to 
tears,  or  to  laughter  especially,  than  the  in- 
dividual. 

Can  you  imagine  a  singer,  for  instance, 
stepping  on  the  platform,  racing  up  hurriedly 
towards  the  public  with  long  steps  and  swing- 

73 


74    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

ing  arms,  as  if  he  tried  to  catch  a  train  ?  Can 
you  imagine  with  what  hilarity  the  audience 
will  receive  the  artist?  It  might  be  the 
greatest  artist,  he  or  she  will  appear  grotesque 


and  the  most  eminent  talent  will  not  save  the 
artist  from  ridicule. 

The  artist  must  be  able  to  carry  himself  on 
the  stage  gracefully,  his  attitude  must  be  of 
noble  simplicity,  not  pompous  nor  ostentatious. 


THE  PLASTIC  ART 


75 


If  you  have  once  established  your  personality 
from  the  plastic  point  of  view,  you  will  go 
further  and  mold  your  body  each  time  in 


harmonious  accordance  with  the  text  of  your 
songs. 

I  do  not  think  that  I  am  pronouncing  any 
startling  principles  by  saying  that  you  cannot 
sing  the  legend  of  a  Saint  with  the  same  plastic 
attitude  as  you  would  sing  a  Bergerette  of  the 


76    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

eighteenth  century.  You  cannot  sing  the  song 
of  a  Cowboy  with  the  same  plastic  attitude  as 
you  would  sing  a  Soldier's  song,  and  so  on. 

Even  if  you  have  no  experience  at  all,  in- 
stinct will  keep  you  from  doing  it.  You  see 
therefore  that  the  interpretative  artist,  how- 
ever limited  his  knowledge  may  be,  however 
limited  his  talent  may  be,  feels  vaguely,  but 
instinctively,  that  the  foundation  of  his  art  is 
the  plastic  quality  of  his  body. 

We  shall  see  in  the  course  of  this  chapter  how 
vast  and  how  deep  this  foundation  is,  and  we 
shall  find  that  the  plasticity  of  the  body  is 
foundation  and  at  the  same  time  principal 
structure  of  the  dramatic  art. 

Can  you  express  tragic  words  with  an  atti- 
tude of  comedy,  or  could  you  express  comedy 
in  a  tragic  attitude  ? 

Can  you  interpret  a  love  song  in  an  attitude 
of  violence,  or  words  of  passion  with  folded 
arms? 

Can  you  sing  a  song  which  is  a  prayer  with 
outstretched  arms  or  sing  a  warrior's  song  on 
your  knees  ?  No  !  No  ! 

You  see  for  yourself  the  dramatic  artist  must 
be  a  sculptor  who  gives  to  his  body  the  attitude 
which  the  words,  the  thought  of  his  song  re- 
quire. 


THE  PLASTIC  ART 


77 


But  let  the  dramatic  artist  be  always  a 
sculptor  of  beauty !  If  you  are  not  gifted 
enough  by  instinct  to  embody  plastic  beauty, 
you  must  learn  it  just  as  conscientiously  as 
you  learn  the  technique  of  your  art. 


How  can  you  acquire  experience  in  plastic 
beauty?  By  the  education  of  your  eyes.  By 
contemplation  of  sculptures  and  paintings.  I 
say  by  contemplation  of  these  works  of  art, 
not  merely  by  looking  at  them. 

Do  not  think  that  the  costume,  however 


78    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

beautiful  or  typical  it  may  be,  can  hide  your 
lack  of  plastic  beauty.  Your  dress  may  be  as 
ample  as  you  can  make  it,  but  if  your  legs  are 
clumsily  posed,  the  attitude  of  your  body  will 
be  ungraceful  in  spite  of  the  magnificence  of 
your  costume. 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  have  the  face  only,  but 
one  must  have  also  the  body  of  what  one  sings 
or  plays. 

Isadora  Duncan,  plastically  speaking,  is  a 
sublime  tragedienne  or  comedienne ;  Madame 
Sarah  Bernhardt  was  a  great  dancer. 

In  my  youth  and  later  through  all  my  life 
I  have  been  not  only  an  ardent  admirer,  but 
an  enthusiastic  observer  of  sculpture  and  paint- 
ing, and  I  am  sure  that  this  education  has  helped 
me  very  much  to  develop  my  plastic  sense  and 
to  cast  my  body  almost  instinctively  according 
to  the  style,  the  period,  and  the  meaning  of  my 
song. 

Just  as  you  must  be  mentally  or  intellectually, 
you  must  be  plastically,  impregnated  by  your 
song ;  then  your  creation  will  appear  instinctive 
instead  of  studied.  Your  art  will  become  your 
nature  because  your  nature  is  art. 

Now  I  will  give  you  one  after  another  a 
few  examples  of  my  songs  to  illustrate  the 
important  r61e  which  the  plastic  part  plays 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  79 

in  the  interpretation  of  a  song,  and  which  in 
all  probability  you  hardly  realize,  as  it  is 
hidden  below  the  costume  or  the  ample  stage 
dress. 

Miss  Myra  Wilcoxon,  a  young  dancer  and 
pupil  in  my  class  of  pantomime,  will  graciously 
lend  me  her  flexible  anatomy  to  embody  the 
plastic  movements  or  attitudes  corresponding 
to  the  text.  (See  note  below.) 

Study  them,  be  inspired  by  them,  reproduce 
them  in  your  imagination  so  often  that  you 
will  be  able  to  reproduce  any  attitude  or  any 
movement  bodily. 

If  you  are  gifted  by  nature  with  a  harmonious 
body,  your  task  of  sculptor  will  be  very  easy. 

In  the  beginning  of  these  lectures  I  have 
compared  the  dramatic  artist  or  the  singer  of 
a  song,  who  has  to  color  his  words,  to  give  them 
light  and  shade,  with  a  painter.  It  is  quite 
logical  that  he  must  be  also  a  sculptor. 

What  a  powerful  sculptor  must  be  the 
dramatic  artist  who  plays  a  pantomime ! 

The  French  stage  knew  a  mime,  Debureau, 
who  was  celebrated  for  the  harmonious  yet 

NOTE:  At  the  public  lectures  Miss  Myra  Wil- 
coxon exhibited  all  the  plastic  movements  and 
attitudes  the  illustrations  of  which  appear  in  this 
book. 


80    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

expressive  movements  of  his  body,  legs,  arms, 
and  hands,  more  than  by  the  movements  of 
his  face. 

Each  song  or  each  play  is  a  pantomime  with 
words.  Some  of  the  words  may  replace  a 
movement,  but  the  spirit,  the  thought,  remains 
to  be  expressed  by  the  plastic  attitude  of  the 
body. 

We  have  had  in  our  great  tragedian  Mounet- 
Sully  a  sublime  incarnation  of  plastic  art 
on  the  stage.  His  walk,  his  movements  were 
a  lesson  for  each  student  of  dramatic  art.  He 
danced  tragedy,  as  the  Greek  called  their  play- 
ing of  tragedy. 

To  see  him  play  GEdipus  was  a  revelation  of 
the  plastic  dance.  Even  though  dressed  in  a 
long  tunic,  the  plastic  expression  of  his  body, 
hidden  under  the  costume,  was  plainly  visible, 
perhaps  not  materially  visible,  but  all  the  same 
visible  to  everybody. 

It  is,  of  course,  understood  that  to  give  to 
your  body  elasticity  and  flexibility  you  will 
have  to  make  preliminary  gymnastics. 

The  following  four  illustrations  represent  a 
group  of  movements  which  are  to  be  studied. 
On  them  depend  the  poise  of  limbs,  the  har- 
mony and  stability  of  the  body.  (1  •  2  •  3  •  4) 

The  fifth  illustration  shows  you  an  attitude 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  81 

which,  I  am  sure,  you  will  never  employ  when 
singing  a  song  or  playing  a  part  (5).  Neverthe- 
less, the  practice  of  these  movements,  which 
belong  rather  to  the  realm  of  acrobatics,  was 
necessary  for  Miss  Wilcoxon  in  order  to  give  a 
pantomimic  representation  of  a  juggler  of  the 
twelfth  century,  of  which  you  will  find  illus- 
trations in  the  following  pages. 

The  two  elements,  plasticity  and  recitation, 
are  so  united,  so  inseparable,  that  plasticity 
needs  words  to  complete  it,  and  words  need 
plasticity  for  its  more  perfect  expression.  I 
would  like  to  take  recitation  in  the  widest  sense 
of  its  meaning  —  recitation  by  word,  by  song, 
by  dance  —  dance  being  the  rhythmic  plastic 
expression  of  a  musical  theme,  which  again  is 
the  expression  of  a  thought  by  sound. 

Really  one  cannot  emphatically  enough  in- 
sist on  the  intimate  relation  between  the 
plastic  element  and  recitation,  whether  it  be 
by  the  spoken  word,  by  music,  or  by  dance. 
You  set  a  thought  and  the  words  which  express 
it  to  music,  and  you  translate  the  music  back 
to  thoughts  and  words ;  you  translate  a  thought 
into  music  and  you  embody  the  music  by  the 
plastic  movements  or  attitudes  of  your  body. 

Suppose  the  poem  of  Stephane  Mallarme*, 
on  which  Claude  Debussy  founded  his  famous 


82    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Symphonic  Poem,  L'Apresmidi  d'un  Faune, 
had  not  existed ;  do  you  not  think  that  a  poet, 
hearing  this  characteristic  music,  would  be  in- 
spired to  write  the  very  same  poem?  And  we 
have  seen  a  famous  dancer,  Nijinski,  translat- 
ing poem  and  music  into  the  realm  of  the 
plastic. 

It  becomes  almost  commonplace  to  repeat 
again  that  the  interpretative  artist  is  most 
decidedly  inferior,  incomplete,  if  he  does  not 
unite  in  his  art  all  the  arts. 

I  was  therefore  in  no  way  astonished  nor 
embarrassed  when  Miss  Wilcoxon,  who  was  a 
dancer,  came  to  ask  me,  the  singer,  for  instruc- 
tion in  the  plastic.  It  was  a  question  of  es- 
tablishing a  link  between  my  art  and  her 
physical  technique,  which  was  quickly  found. 
Miss  Wilcoxon  danced  music,  she  expressed 
it  by  undetermined  poses;  I  then  taught  her 
to  translate  music  into  thought,  thought  into 
words,  and  to  translate  both,  thoughts  and 
words,  into  plastic  movements  and  attitudes. 
She  became  a  mime. 

Now  let  us  illustrate  some  plastic  move- 
ments. 

Sometimes  you  find  on  my  programs  a  song 
called  Ma  Cousinette.  There  is  one  verse  in 
the  song  which  reads  as  follows : 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  83 

Sans  recherche  pour  la  toilette, 
Elle  va  dans  son  jardinet, 
Ou  chaque  fleur  sous  1'herbette 
Lui  pre"sente  un  bouquet. 

The  song  belongs  to  the  group  of  Chansons 
a  danser.  The  verse  I  have  quoted  reappears 
different  times  as  a  refrain.  Its  meaning  is : 
the  girl,  of  whom  the  song  speaks,  goes  to  the 
garden  picking  flowers  for  her  lover.  The  song 
being  a  Chanson  &  danser,  that  means  a  song 
where  you  have  to  indicate  some  rhythmic 
movements,  you  will  almost  instinctively  picture 
the  movement  of  picking  flowers.  You  can 
pick  flowers  in  daily  life  in  a  variety  of  man- 
ners ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  in  a  song,  where 
the  movement  reappears  twice  or  three  times 
with  the  refrain,  you  could  bend  over  your 
body  and  pretend  to  pick  flowers  in  the  careless 
way  you  might  do  in  daily  life.  The  move- 
ment must  appear  in  plastic  beauty. 

The  following  illustration  shows  you  Miss 
Wilcoxon  in  the  position  of  picking  flowers. 
Note  in  the  illustration  the  pose  of  feet  and 
the  way  the  knees  are  bent.  The  attitude  is 
most  graceful  and  shows  flexibility  (6). 

It  is  left  to  your  imagination  to  see  Miss 
Wilcoxon  dressed  in  my  costume,  singing  my 
song  Ma  Cousinette. 


84    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

You  might  consider  it  perhaps  an  exaggera- 
tion or  a  pedantry  to  ask  a  singer  to  practice 
gymnastics  for  her  appearance  on  the  stage. 
But  believe  me,  your  audience  will  appreciate 
the  difference  between  your  gesture  of  picking 
flowers  in  plastic  beauty  and  the  gesture  of  a 
peasant  woman  digging  out  her  potatoes. 

I  would  like  to  illustrate  another  plastic 
attitude  in  another  song  which  we  will  discuss 
later,  Le  Cycle  du  Vin.  You  remember  in 
one  verse  I  indicate  that  the  glass  containing 
the  wine  is  brought  to  the  mouth  and  that  I 
am  drinking  the  wine. 

De  verre  en  bouche 
La  voila  la  jolie  bouche 
Bouchi,  bouchons,  bouchons  le  vin 
La  voila,  la  jolie  bouche  au  vin. 

The  following  is  an  illustration  of  the  atti- 
tude of  the  body  when  singing  this  verse  (7). 
You  see  the  strong,  almost  straight  line  from 
the  chin  to  the  toe  of  the  outstretched  foot, 
while  the  hand  on  the  hip  supports  the  weight 
of  the  body.  This  song  is  almost  a  continuous 
pantomime,  a  march,  incessant  and  varied,  a 
march  to  be  danced. 

The  plastic  attitude  of  the  body  is  most 
harmonious  and  impresses  you  as  beautiful. 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  85 

You  do  not  imagine  that  the  same  effect  would 
be  produced  by  simply  throwing  back  the  head 
and  making  a  gesture  as  if  snatching  a  drink. 

The  two  following  illustrations  refer  to 
another  song  which  you  know  already,  La 
Legende  de  St.  Nicolas,  and  particularly  to  the 
words  with  which  the  butcher  invites  the  little 
children  to  enter  his  house  where  later  he  kills 
them. 

Entrez,  entrez,  petits  enfants, 
Y  a  d'la  place  assur&nent. 

The  first  is  taken  to  show  especially  the 
wrong  attitude  of  the  body.  Compare  them 
and  you  yourself  will  find  the  difference.  The 
limbs  and  feet  are  too  near  each  other,  the 
gesture  of  the  arm  too  narrow,  too  small  (8). 

The  second  illustration  shows  the  right  atti- 
tude of  the  body.  The  plasticity  is  broad, 
the  gesture  of  the  arm  is  large,  it  means  "wel- 
come." You  see  how  the  costume  will  be 
draped  around  the  long  line  formed  by  the 
leg  (9). 

I  will  terminate  these  illustrations  by  a 
reference  to  the  song  Le  Voyage  de  Joseph  et 
Marie  A  Bethleem,  the  words  of  which  I  gave 
in  the  second  of  my  lectures. 

The  three  following  illustrations  show  three 


86    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

different  characteristic  attitudes  which  occur 
in  the  song. 

The  first  one  refers  to  the  moment  where 
Joseph,  looking  for  a  shelter,  notices  in  the 
distance  a  house.  You  see  in  the  picture  the 
long  line  from  the  head  to  the  point  of  the  out- 
stretched foot  and  another  line  from  the  chin 
to  the  end  of  the  other  foot.  This  is,  so  to  say, 
the  plastic  structure  around  which  the  ample 
costumes  are  draped  and  by  which  you  will 
obtain  an  impressive  picture  (10). 

The  second  illustration  shows  Joseph  be- 
seeching the  innkeeper  to  give  them  shelter  (11). 

Monsieur,  je  vous  en  prie,  pour  F  amour  du  bon  Dieu, 
Dans  votre  hdtellerie,  que  nous  ayons  un  lieu. 

The  third  illustration  shows  another  atti- 
tude of  supplication,  but  this  time  it  is  Mary 
who  implores  the  hostess  of  another  inn  to 
offer  her  shelter  (12). 

O  Madame  PHotesse,  dit  la  Vierge  a  genoux, 
Sensible  a  ma  detresse,  recevez-nous  chez  vous. 

The  words  indicate  that  Mary  has  knelt 
down  when  addressing  the  hostess. 

The  illustration  shows  you,  however,  that 
the  interpreter  must  only  indicate  the  move- 
ment of  kneeling,  as  his  body  must  immediately 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  87 

return  to  a  normal  upright  position,  when  he 
subsequently  has  to  impersonate  the  hostess 
who  rebuffs  Mary  rather  haughtily,  rather 
disdainfully,  as  if  embarrassed  to  shelter  a 
woman  whose  coming  maternity  might  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  the  house. 

You  see  how  ignorant  an  interpreter  would 
be  if  he  completed  the  movement  of  kneeling 
down,  instead  of  indicating  it  plastically  only. 
Can  you  see  the  grotesque  situation  of  one 
getting  up  awkwardly  from  his  knees  and  try- 
ing to  continue  the  song?  Could  you  imagine 
a  more  dismal  destruction  of  rhythm,  atmos- 
phere, color,  and  plasticity? 

All  these  efforts  to  acquire  plastic  beauty 
tend  to  give  to  the  artist  of  the  stage,  or  of  the 
concert  platform,  a  prominence  in  appearance, 
to  broaden,  to  enlarge  his  outlines.  I  can 
better  explain  what  I  mean  by  referring  to  a 
French  expression.  We  say,  avoir  de  la  ligne 
(to  get  the  right  lines). 

Any  actress,  even  without  a  pretty  face,  will 
be  able  to  play  the  r61es  of  grand  heroines, 
si  elle  a  de  la  ligne,  if  she  has  portliness,  stateli- 
ness,  in  short,  all  the  prestige  of  plastic  beauty. 

However  important  the  plastic  harmony  may 
be,  it  is  understood  that  you  will  not  sacrifice 
the  truth  of  a  subject  to  the  plastic  command- 


88    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

ments,  and  that  you  must  be  able  to  deform 
your  plastic  beauty  for  the  sake  of  art.  I  shall 
give  you  an  example. 


You  know  that  sculpture  in  the  Middle  Ages 
took  its  inspiration  sometimes  for  the  orna- 
mentation of  architectural  works  from  the 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  89 

jugglers,  buffoons  who  passed  through  the 
cities,  danced,  sang  on  public  streets,  and  tried 
to  make  people  laugh  by  their  distortion  of 
face  and  body.  Many  of  the  gargoyles  of 
famous  cathedrals  were  suggested  to  the 
sculptors  of  the  Middle  Ages  by  these  buffoons. 

I  had  among  my  manuscripts  a  piece  of 
music  dating  from  the  thirteenth  century, 
probably  the  dance  of  some  buffoon.  It  was 
called  Estampeda  de  Jongleurs. 

I  reconstructed  for  Miss  Wilcoxon  this 
curious  dance,  where  the  grotesque  rhythm 
and  the  exaggerated  mimicry  illustrate  the 
character  of  the  personage  even  more  intensely 
than  the  costume,  which  was  a  necessary  ac- 
cessory on  account  of  the  movements. 

The  following  are  reproductions  of  a  few 
phases  of  this  juggler  dance  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 

As  you  see,  it  requires  quite  an  artistic 
courage  to  present  oneself  in  public  under  such 
a  grotesque  appearance,  but  fortunately  there 
are  artistic  souls  who  see  art  in  the  expression 
of  every  curious  and  rare  form  (13  •  14  •  15  •  16). 

I  think  in  speaking  of  the  plastic  art  on  the 
stage  or  platform,  I  should  not  omit  discussion 
of  one  thing  to  which,  in  my  opinion,  much  too 
little  importance  is  attached.  I  mean  the 


90    DRAMATIC  AND^  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

question  of  costumes.  I  know  I  shall  be  told 
the  concert  platform  is  not  a  stage  and  the 
concert  singer  has  not  to  disguise  himself,  but, 
of  course,  this  is  a  commonplace  and  bad  taste. 


Art  has  to  sacrifice  to  art  only,  and  no  other 
consideration  should  enter  into  the  mind  of  an 
artist.  He  should  not  say:  "What  is  the 
use?  The  public  comes  (or  stays  away)  any- 
how." Every  artist  has  to  strive  for  a  complete 
creation.  The  painter  or  sculptor  will  not 


THE  PLASTIC  ART 


91 


leave   a  particle   of  his   work   unfinished   or 
sketchy.    The  painter  even  provides  for  his 
painting  an  adequate  frame. 
One  cannot  tell  me  that  there  are  mechanical 


difficulties.  I  have  traveled  twenty-one  years 
through  the  whole  world  from  San  Francisco 
in  the  west  to  Smyrna  in  the  farthest  east,  from 
Stockholm  in  the  north  to  Cairo  in  the  south. 
I  have  appeared  on  stages,  but  also  in  the  most 
important  concert  halls.  Everywhere  I  found, 


92    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

or  could  arrange,  a  dressing  room  in  which  I 
could  put  on  or  change  a  costume. 

I  have  seen  on  the  concert  platform  exhibi- 
tions of  bad  taste  which  made  me  suffer,  not  so 
much  for  the  artist'  or  for  art'  sake  as  for  the 
public'  sake,  to  whom  I  think  the  most  complete 
art  should  be  offered,  not  as  a  return  for  his 
money  but  for  his  education,  of  which  art  and 
artists  benefit  more  than  they  imagine.  I 
have  seen  a  very  famous  singer  (quite  aged) 
in  an  attire  which  she  considered  probably  of 
a  simple  elegance.  Simple  it  was.  But  sim- 
plicity does  not  create  atmosphere.  She  looked 
like  a  cook  in  her  Sunday  dress. 

I  have  seen  on  the  concert  platform  another 
singer,  a  very  charming  young  woman,  dressed 
in  a  tea-gown  of  the  latest,  most  absurd  style. 
The  skirt  ended  just  below  the  knees.  Cer- 
tainly it  was  the  latest  style,  but  is  it  good 
taste?  Does  such  style  create  an  artistic 
atmosphere  ? 

There  are  other  artists  who,  if  they  choose  a 
costume,  do  so  rather  for  the  sake  of  a  dis- 
guise, than  for  the  sake  of  creating  an  atmos- 
phere in  accordance  with  their  song. 

I  have  seen  on  the  program  of  a  singer  a 
poem  of  Victor  Hugo's,  announced  as  a  song 
of  the  fifteenth  century  and  sung  in  a  costume 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  93 

of  the  fifteenth  century.  I  have  seen  singers 
interpreting  the  Bergerettes  of  Weckerlin  in 
costumes  of  the  Middle  Ages.  I  have  even 
seen  one  of  the  most  famous  opera  singers  of 
our  time  appear  as  Messalina  in  a  spangled 
dress. 

I  am  sure  that  each  of  these  singers  to  whom 
I  have  just  referred  would  answer  me:  "But 
we  make  money !  We  are  popular !  We  have 
success!"  But  why  not  make  money,  be 
popular,  have  success,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
accustom  the  public  to  the  most  complete  ex- 
pression of  art  ? 

I  am  speaking  here  of  women  only.  The 
male  singer  is,  I  think,  forever  condemned  to 
appear  in  this  modern  abomination  called 
evening  dress,  until  one  sensible,  tasteful,  and 
courageous  man  will  break  the  rule  and  appear 
in  some  appropriate  costume.  The  priest 
dons  a  robe  for  his  religious  service,  the  judge 
dresses  in  a  toga  to  pronounce  justice.  Why 
should  Art  be  delivered  in  the  detestable  banal- 
ity of  a  frock-coat  and  patent  leather  shoes  ? 

There  is  no  department  in  dramatic  art 
where  more  horrible  crimes  are  committed 
than  in  the  costume  department.  In  my 
memory  will  ever  live  the  most  extraordina- 
rily costumed  Cleopatra  of  a  very  popular 


94    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

moving  picture  play,  which  I  have  seen  in  this 
country. 

No  dramatic  artist  should  confine  himself  to 
learning  by  heart  his  part  or  his  song,  and  leave 


the  rest  to  the  stage  director  or  to  accident, 
which  is  sometimes  even  more  reliable. 

An  hour  or  two  in  any  library  will  inform 
you  about  the  costumes  of  each  period  and  the 
way  they  were  born.  You  will  know  that  a 
woman  wearing  the  costume  of  the  thirteenth 


THE  PLASTIC  ART 


95 


century  will  not  make  the  same  bow  as  Madame 
de  Pompadour,  or  that  Madame  du  Barry  will 
not  cross  the  stage  as  a  lady  of  our  time  would 
cross  Fifth  Avenue.  An  hour  or  two  in  the 
library  will  inform  any  artist  of  the  male  sex, 


not  only  of  the  difference  between  a  three- 
cornered  hat  of  the  time  of  Louis  XV  and  a 
large-brimmed  hat  with  long  feathers  of  the 
time  of  Moliere,  but  will  inform  him  that  he 
cannot  remove  the  one  or  the  other  as  he  takes 
off  his  straw  hat  on  the  beach. 


96    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Every  gesture  corresponding  to  the  text  must 
also  be  adapted  to  the  period  of  the  costume. 

But  your  r61e  must  not  be  that  of  a  tailor's 
dummy  dressed  in  the  costumes.  Just  as  you 


Au  LUXEMBOURG  JE  FIS  SA  CONNAISSANCB  .  .  . 
(Song  epoch  I860,  Les  Hussards  de  la  Garde) 

have  to  animate  your  words,  color  them,  ac- 
centuate them,  just  as  you  have  to  give  light 
and  shade  to  your  voice,  so  you  have  to  ani- 
mate your  costumes.  You  must  know,  guess 
how  and  when  you  can  produce  with  the 


THE  PLASTIC  ART  97 

chiffons  of  your  costume,  by  a  movement  of 
the  arm,  of  the  hand,  by  a  twist  of  the  body  or 
the  head,  a  beautiful  drapery.  You  must  be 
the  master  of  your  costume  —  show  that  you 
carry  it,  if  the  material  is  heavy,  but  let  it 
"rain"  around  your  body  when  it  is  light. 


THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    FACULTY 
OF  OBSERVATION 

WHAT  is  observation  ? 

Observation  is  the  faculty  of  seeing  men  and 
things  quickly  and  justly. 

If  you  observe  a  lifeless  thing,  you  must  see 
its  outlines,  judge  its  dimensions,  recognize  its 
peculiarities,  conceive  its  beauties  or  its  ugli- 
ness. 

If  you  observe  men,  you  must,  when  you  see 
them,  be  able  at  the  same  time  to  penetrate 
them,  be  able  to  judge  their  interior  from  ex- 
terior, recognize  their  character  by  their  pe- 
culiarities. The  observer  will  comprehend  the 
causes  and  effects  of  an  action,  he  will  even 
recognize  the  inspiration  of  such  an  action. 

The  faculty  of  observation  is  a  vital  quality 
for  almost  everybody  who  has  a  useful  occupa- 
tion. 

The  gift  of  observation  creates  invention; 
invention  being  utilization  of  experience,  which 
itself  is  accumulation  of  observations. 

98 


THE  FACULTY  OF  OBSERVATION    99 

The  gift  of  observation  is  a  vital  quality  for 
any  kind  of  artist,  it  is  a  conditio  sine  qua  non 
for  the  dramatic  artist,  be  he  singer  or  actor. 

Your  observation  can  be  mechanical,  or  your 
observation  can  be  analytical.  Mechanical  ob- 
servation will  lead  you  to  imitation  only. 

An  imitative  art  is  no  art,  but  artificiality. 

If  you  imitate  even  the  greatest  artist,  your 
imitation  will  remain  artificiality,  you  will  not 
stir  your  public,  you  will  neither  provoke  its 
laugh  nor  its  tears.  You  will  leave  it  cold. 

If,  however,  your  observation  is  analytical, 
you  will  not  imitate  your  model,  you  will  revive 
it.  You  will  augment  it,  you  will  amplify  its 
peculiarities,  inspired  by  the  findings  of  your 
observation. 

The  inventive  power  of  an  artist  is  Imagi- 
nation. 

Aided  by  your  imagination  you  will  put  into 
life  all  human  types  you  have  observed. 

You  will  collect  their  hypocrisies  and  their 
frankness;  their  truth  and  their  falsehood; 
their  thousand  tricks  of  attack  and  defense. 
You  will  look  into  their  loyalty,  but  also  be- 
hind the  astonishing  masks  they  put  on  or  take 
off  their  faces,  according  to  their  desire  to  de- 
ceive you  or  to  be  faithful  to  you. 

You  will  see  how  their  eyes  and  their  lips 


100   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

correspond  to  their  emotions,  their  vices,  their 
virtues. 

However,  you  have  not  only  to  see. 

The  observer  must  be  photographer  and  neg- 
ative plate  in  one,  he  must  be  a  spectator  of 
humanity  and  at  the  same  time  its  critic  and 
its  judge. 

The  observer  lives  in  perpetual  emotion,  he 
is  in  turn  amused  or  bored,  enthusiastic  or  dis- 
couraged, impassioned  or  disgusted,  but  he  is 
always  knowing.  His  eye  is  a  pencil  which 
marks  down,  on  the  pages  of  his  brain,  in- 
delible lines,  which,  added  one  to  one,  create 
for  the  observer  most  valuable  documents  of 
humanity. 

By  such  documents  you,  the  conscientious 
observer,  will  complete  your  incarnations  of 
those  characters,  which  the  words  of  the  au- 
thor, the  playwright,  or  the  poet  have  sketched 
for  you. 

Can  the  gift  of  observation  be  acquired? 

Certainly ! 

Observation  is  a  matter  of  education,  of  train- 
ing. 

If  a  child  be  taught  from  his  earliest  youth 
to  open  his  eyes  and  to  keep  them  open,  to 
walk  through  life  not  only  with  open  eyes  but 


THE  FACULTY  OF  OBSERVATION        101 

attentive  eyes,   he  cannot  help  becoming  an 
observer. 

It  is  said  that  a  seaman,  who  is  eternally  on 
the  lookout  for  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  becomes 
very  sharpsighted.  Why  should  one  not  ac- 
quire a  sharp  vision  of  men  and  things  by  con- 
tinually "eying"  them? 

I  wish  to  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  train- 
ing the  gift  of  observation,  and  mention  an 
experience  I  have  had  with  many  of  my 
pupils. 

Sometimes  I  practice  with  them,  how  they 
should  comport  themselves  on  the  stage,  when 
placed  in  certain  situations  of  daily  life. 

I  imagine  for  them  certain  situations,  — 
tragic,  comic,  or  indifferent  situations,  signifi- 
cant or  quite  banal  situations,  —  and  I  try  to 
find  out  in  what  measure  they  possess  the  gift 
of  observation,  and  what  is  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  their  observations. 

You  will  hear  with  surprise  that  very  few 
were  able  to  express  exteriorly  an  imaginary 
joy  or  sorrow ;  many  were  more  or  less  embar- 
rassed when  they  were  to  read  an  imaginary 
letter,  instead  of  holding  the  real  letter  in  their 
hands.  Many  were  at  a  loss  when  they  had  to 
indicate  by  the  intonations  of  their  voice  the 
character  of  the  imaginary  letter,  whether  it 


102   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

was  a  business  letter,~some  indifferent  letter,  or 
a  love  letter. 

There  were  some  who  were  unable  to  imitate 
putting  on  a  pair  of  gloves  without  having  the 
real  gloves  in  their  hands. 

All  my  pupils  had  seen  me  when  I  was  sing- 
ing the  song  Le  lien  serre,  pretending  to  sew. 
They  had  seen  how  I  pulled  an  imaginary  needle 
out  of  my  bodice,  how  I  broke  the  thread,  how 
I  tied  a  knot,  how  I  moistened  the  other  end  of 
my  thread  to  file  it  into  my  needle,  how  I  played 
the  "virtuoso  of  observation"  by  insisting  on 
the  difficulty  of  filing  the  thread  into  the  needle 
owing  to  bad  sight,  how  I  accentuated  the  bad 
sight  by  lifting  my  eyebrows,  how  I  frowned 
and  knit  niy  brows. 

When  I  asked  some  of  my  pupils  to  do  this 
imaginary  sewing,  none  of  them  could  realize 
this  gesture  without  a  real  needle  and  thread. 
None  of  them  —  and  all  certainly  know  how  to 
sew  —  could  even  indicate  the  role  which  each 
hand  plays  in  sewing.  None  of  them  had  ap- 
parently observed  their  own  fingers,  they  were 
ignorant  of  the  life  of  their  hands. 

How  then  could  one  ever  be  able  to  incarnate 
human  life  with  its  thousand  subtle  shades ! 

If  I  have  tried  to  show  that  observation  is  a 
vital  quality  for  the  dramatic  artist,  I  would 


m 

m 


LE  LIEN  SERRE 


THE  FACULTY  OF  OBSERVATION        103 

nevertheless  not  like  to  give  the  impression  that 
I  consider  the  observations  recorded  as  a  kind 
of  costume-collection  kept  in  the  wardrobe  of 
your  brain,  which  you  will  take  out  as  neces- 
sity requires,  and  in  which  you  will  clothe  your 
characters, 

You  would  then  really  not  incarnate  a  char- 
acter, you  would  produce  only  an  illusion  of  a 
character.  Your  observations  must  be  based 
on  intellectuality,  on  cerebration.  You  must 
double  the  observer  with  the  philosopher. 

I  know  I  shall  be  told  that  I  am  using  rather 
great  words,  that  I  am  exaggerating  the  im- 
portance of  the  mummer,  nevertheless,  the 
mummer  is  very  severely  criticized  if  he  does 
not  succeed,  in  competition  with  God's  work- 
shop, in  putting  on  the  stage  a  real  image  of 
man. 


MUSICAL  RHYTHM 

You  cannot  sing  a  song  without  rhythm. 

Musical  rhythm  is  a  mechanical  quality, 
which  you  can  finally  acquire  through  a  suffi- 
cient training  of  your  voice  by  the  aid  of  a 
metronome. 

Of  course  you  are  better  off  if  you  possess 
rhythm  by  instinct,  by  the  grace  of  God,  rather 
than  by  the  grace  of  the  metronome. 

Even  your  speaking  voice  may  then  possess 
rhythm. 

A  song  requires  rhythm  in  the  same  degree 
as  does  a  recitation,  and  therefore  there  should 
be  no  difficulty  in  keeping  the  rhythm  in  a 
song,  where  recitation  and  song  occur  together. 

You  will  find,  however,  that  very  few  inter- 
preters of  songs  are  able  to  overcome  this  dif- 
ficulty. If  they  have  to  speak  a  few  words 
within  their  singing  text,  they  lose  and  cannot 
find  again  their  rhythmic  accent. 

I  have  in  my  repertoire  a  song  by  Beranger, 

104 


MUSICAL  RHYTHM  105 

called  M a  Grandmkre,  which  offers  the  best  illus- 
tration for  a  song  mixed  with  recitation. 

I  shall  give  first  the  words  of  the  song,  and 
then  indicate  which  lines  are  spoken  and  which 
are  sung. 

It  is  necessary  to  penetrate  well  the  meaning 
of  the  song. 

It  is  a  grandmother,  a  French  lady  of  olden 
times,  speaking  to  her  grandchildren  of  her 
joyous  past.  The  poet  indicates  that  her 
frankness  is  rather  due  to  a  drop  of  wine,  but 
in  interpreting  the  song  you  must  not  forget 
that  the  grandmother  is  a  woman  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  She  has  a  gallant  heart ;  she 
has  loved  love,  which  means  the  joy  of  loving 
and  of  being  loved.  In  spite  of  her  old  age,  her 
heart  has  not  hardened;  her  old  face  bears 
still  the  divine  smile  of  youth.  It  is  a  good, 
tender,  charming,  joyous  grandmother  whom 
your  interpretation  has  to  reveal.  Her  frank- 
ness grazes  indiscretion,  but  not  frivolity. 

MA  GRANDMERE 

(Be"ranger) 

Ma  grandm^re  un  soir  a  sa  f£te 
De  vin  pur  ayant  bu  deux  doigts 
Nous  disait  en  branlant  la  tete, 
Que  d'amoureux  j'eus  autrefois. 


106   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Combien  je  regrette 
Mon  bras  si  dodu, 
Ma  jambe  bien  faite, 
Et  le  temps  perdu. 

Quoi !  maman,  vous  n'e"tiez  pas  sage? 

—  Non  vraiment ;  et  de  mes  appas 
Seule  a  quinze  ans  j'appris  1'usage, 
Car  la  nuit  je  ne  dormais  pas. 

Refrain  : 
Combien  je  regrette,  etc. 

Maman,  Lindor  savait  done  plaire? 
—  Oui,  seul  il  me  plut  quatre  mois ; 
Mais  bientot  j'estimai  ValSre, 
Et  fis  deux  heureux  a  la  fois. 

Refrain : 
Combien  je  regrette,  etc. 

Quoi,  maman,  deux  amants  ensemble? 
Oui,  mais  chacun  d'eux  me  trompa, 
Plus  fine  alors  qu'il  ne  vous  semble, 
J'epousai  votre  grand'papa. 

Refrain  : 
Combien  je  regrette,  etc. 

Maman,  que  lui  dit  la  f amille  ? 

—  Rien,  mais  un  mari  plus  sense" 
Eut  pu  connaltre  a  la  coquille 
Que  1'oeuf  e*tait  de"ja  casse". 


MUSICAL  RHYTHM 


107 


r    r    =* 


Ma  Grand-mire     un      soir       a          sa        fe     -     te 


de      vin      pur        ay     -     ant       bu         deux     doigts 


—  ^  s  —  —  s  s  — 

^ 

"$>- 

F  —  i— 

BE      ^  —  r- 

nous       di     -     salt        en  bran  -  lant  la 


J 


te   -    te     que     d'a-mour-eux    j'eus   au  -   tre     fois. 
REFRAIN. 


Com  -  bien     je        re  -  gret  -  te     mon  bras      si      do 


du     ma   jam  -  be    bien     fai  -  te      et      le  temps  per 


3^  f  r  .M£ 


? 


du     corns  bien    je      re  -  gret  -  te     mon  bras      si     do 


du      ma   jam  -  be  bien  fai  -  te     et  le  temps  per  -  du. 


108   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Refrain : 
Combien  je  regrette,  etc. 

Comme  vous,  maman,  faut-il  faire? 
—  Eh  !  mes  petits-enfants,  pourquoi, 
Quand  j'ai  fait  comme  ma  grand'm^re, 
Ne  f eriez-vous  pas  comme  moi  ? 

Refrain : 
Combien  je  regrette,  etc. 

In  interpreting  the  song  you  will  lay  stress 
on  the  different  characterizations  of  each  re- 
frain. 

The  refrain  in  each  verse  is  repeated. 

In  the  first  verse  you  sing  the  refrain  gaily. 

In  the  second  verse,  the  first  part  of  the 
refrain  is  sung  with  some  melancholy ;  speak 
the  second  part,  the  repetition  of  the  refrain, 
but  sing  again  the  last  line :  Et  le  temps  perdu ! 

In  the  third  verse  sing  the  whole  refrain ; 
the  first  part  mischievously,  in  the  repetition 
accentuate  the  "regret"  jovially. 

In  the  fourth  verse,  speak  the  whole  refrain 
with  a  comic  bitterness,  but  observe  well  the 
rhythm. 

In  the  fifth  verse  you  will  speak  the  first  part 
with  a  certain  mockery,  and  sing  the  second 
part. 


MUSICAL  RHYTHM  109 

In  the  sixth  and  last  verse  you  will  sing  the 
refrain  with  a  melancholy  emotion,  the  repe- 
tition of  the  refrain  you  will  speak  in  the  same 
tender  emotion  up  to  the  line,  Mon  bras  si  dodu 
.  .  .  the  two  last  lines, 

M a  jambe  bien  faite 
Et  .  .  .  le  temps  perdu ! 

must  ring  out  almost  in  a  sigh,  but  musically. 


9 


THE  EURHYTHMIC  EXPRESSION  OF  THE 
BODY 

I  HAVE  spoken  in  a  former  chapter  of  the 
Plastic  Art  and  of  the  necessity  for  the  dramatic 
artist  to  possess  the  sentiment  of  plastic  art, 
which  enables  him  to  embody  with  beauty 
and  with  style  his  impersonations. 

While,  as  we  have  seen,  you  can  acquire 
plastic  art  by  observation,  by  studying  sculp- 
tural works,  you  cannot  find  outside  of  your- 
self the  eurhythmies  of  the  body,  that  is,  the 
natural  grace  of  the  body,  which  is  instinctive. 

Every  nation  has  its  eurhythmic  grace; 
you  find  an  expression  of  it  in  some  country 
dances ;  therefore  an  uncultured  peasant  girl 
may  sometimes  show  graceful  natural  move- 
ments which  the  most  refined  lady  may  lack. 

The  grace  of  each  body  is  personal  to  the 
body.  A  tall  woman  will  have  an  eurhythmic 
expression  different  from  that  of  a  small  one. 
A  tall  singer  cannot  have  the  same  gestures  as 
a  short  one.  I  would  not  advise  the  short 
singer,  with  short  arms  and  short  legs,  to  try 
no 


EURHYTHMIC  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  BODY    111 

imitating  the  graceful  movements  of  a  tall 
singer  with  long  arms  and  long  legs. 

Just  as  the  same  dress  does  not  fit  every 
woman,  the  same  gesture  cannot  fit  every  body. 

There  is  quite  a  voluminous  literature  of 
French  so-called  Chansons  d  danser.  I  would 
not  like  to  explain  them  as  "dancing  songs." 
They  are  not  danced,  but  the  body  has  a  rhyth- 
mic part  in  the  interpretation  of  them. 

Even  your  motionless  body  has  to  exhale 
grace,  then  how  much  more  when  it  moves  in 
correspondence  to  the  tune  and  words  of  a  song. 

I  shall  illustrate  what  I  have  explained  by 
eurhythmic  expression  of  the  body  in  a  song 
called,  Le  Cycle  du  Vin. 

The  interpretation  of  the  song  does  not  re- 
quire a  great  effort  of  imagination.  There  is 
nothing  to  compose,  nothing  to  create,  every- 
thing is  written  and  expressed  in  the  song.  You 
have  to  carry  out  only  what  the  words  almost 
direct  you  to  do,  but  with  inborn  grace. 

LE  CYCLE  DU  VIN 
(Chanson  de  metier  du  XVP  stecle) 

Le  vigneron  va  planter  sa  vigne, 
f  Vigni,  vignons,  vignons  le  vin. 
1  <  La  voila  la  jolie  vigne  au  vin ; 
[  La  voila,  la  jolie  vigne. 


112   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

De  vigne  en  branche. 
La  voila  la  jolie  branche, 
Branch!,  branchons,  branchons  le  vin. 
La  voila  la  jolie  branche  au  vin, 
,  La  voila,  la  jolie  branche. 

De  branche  en  grappe, 
La  voila  la  jolie  grappe, 
Grappi,  grappons,  grappons  le  vin. 
La  voila  la  jolie  grappe  au  vin, 
,  La  voila,  la  jolie  grappe. 

De  grappe  en  hotte, 

La  voila  la  jolie  hotte, 
[  Hotti,  hottons,  hottons  le  vin. 
4  <  La  voila  la  jolie  hotte  au  vin. 
[  La  voila,  la  jolie  hotte. 

De  hotte  en  cuve, 
La  voila  la  jolie  cuve, 
Cuvi,  cuvons,  cuvons  le  vin. 
La  voila  la  jolie  cuve  au  vin, 
La  voila,  la  jolie  cuve. 

De  cuve  en  tonne, 
La  voila  la  jolie  tonne, 
Tonni,  tonnons,  tonnons  le  vin. 
La  voila  la  jolie  tonne  au  vin, 
La  voila,  la  jolie  tonne. 

De  crache  en  verre, 
Le  voila  le  joli  verre, 
Verri,  verrons,  verrons  le  vin. 
Le  voila  le  joli  verre  au  vin, 
Le  voila,  le  joli  verre. 


EURHYTHMIC  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  BODY     113 


De  verre  en  bouche, 

La  voila  la  jolie  bouche, 
f  Bouchi,  bouchons,  bouchons  le  vin. 
8  i  La  voila  la  jolie  bouche  au  vin, 
[  La  voila,  la  jolie  bouche. 

De  bouche  en  ventre, 
Le  voila  le  joli  ventre, 
Ventri,  ventrons,  ventrons  le  vin. 
Le  voila  le  joli  ventre  au  vin, 
Le  voila,  le  joli  ventre. 

De  ventre  en  terre, 

La  voila  la  joli'terre, 
f  Terri,  terrons,  terrons  le  vin. 
10  <  La  voila  la  joli'terre  au  vin, 
[  La  voila,  la  joli'terre. 


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114   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

I  have  numbered  in  each  verse  the  three 
lines  where  gestures  accompany  the  singing. 

The  explanations  of  the  gestures  follow  here 
under  the  corresponding  number. 


1.  You  imitate  the  vine  grower  digging  his 
soil. 

2.  You  indicate  by  a  gesture  of  your  hand, 
which  you  lift  a  little  higher  at  each  new  line, 
that  the  line  is  growing. 


EURHYTHMIC  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  BODY     115 

3.  You  show  the  grapevine,  you  keep  it  high 
in  the  air,  you  pretend  to  hold  the  stem  of  the 
grape  between  thumb  and  fore-finger. 


4.  You  march  around,  rhythmically,  making 
believe  you  carry  on  your  back  the  heavy  bas- 
ket full  of  grapes. 

5.  You  pretend  to  tread  the  grapes  with 
your  feet  (as  it  was  done  in  old  times  in  France) . 


116   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

You  are  rhythmically  stamping  your  feet  in 
an  imaginary  bucket. 

6.  You  pretend  to  embrace  an  imaginary 
cask  with  your  arms.  You  will  dance  around 
it,  it  contains  the  wine. 


7.  Here  you  will  pretend  to  keep  a  glass  in 
your  hand.    You  will  keep  it  at  the  level  of 
your  eyes,  you  will  look  at  it  as  if  you  admire 
the  color  of  the  wine. 

8.  Here  you  bend  your  body  backward,  you 
will  empty  your  glass  in  your  mouth. 


EURHYTHMIC  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  BODY    117 

9.  You  will  slightly  tap  on  your  stomach, 
betray  some  gluttony,  your  joy  of  having  ab- 
sorbed this  fine  creation  of  God. 

10.  Same  as  1. 


10 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  TEMPO  IN 
DECLAMATION 

THE  diction  of  a  dramatic  or  lyric  artist  is 
perfect,  if  he  or  she  adds  to  a  clear  enunciation 
the  great  science  of  tempo. 

Without  tempo  the  declamation  will  have 
no  style,  no  color. 

A  poem,  a  song  will  be  a  monotonous  string 
of  meaningless  words. 

What  means  taking  tempo  ? 

It  means  giving  light  and  shade  to  the  phrase 
of  the  author  by  pauses  of  short  or  longer  dura- 
tion. 

Even  a  perfect  enunciation  or  a  most  artistic 
coloration  of  the  voice  cannot  make  up  for  lack 
of  tempo. 

The  words  of  the  text  form  the  material  of 
the  thought,  the  tempo  indicates  its  structure. 

By  the  tempo  you  intensify  the  thought; 
it  is  as  if  it  ripens  during  your  interpretation. 

Before  giving  a  few  examples  to  illustrate 
the  importance  of  tempo  in  diction,  I  would 

118 


SCIENCE  OF  TEMPO  IN  DECLAMATION    119 

like  to  say  that  in  speaking  of  a  "science  of 
tempo,"  I  am  not  thinking  of  any  theory  or 
technicalities  as  the  basis  of  such  a  science. 

The  science  of  tempo  is  based  solely  on  a 
thorough  comprehension  of  the  thought  of  the 
author. 

I  do  not  think  that  tempo  can  be  applied 
mechanically,  as  it  should  vary  with  the  nature 
of  the  thought  expressed  in  the  text. 

To  illustrate  the  appliance  of  tempo  in 
declamation,  I  shall  give  first  the  words  of  a 
text  and  then  the  same  words  between  which 
I  have  inserted  marks  to  indicate  short  pauses 

i — i,  a  pause  of  double  duration  i 1,  of 

triple  duration  i 1,  etc.,  etc. 

The  first  example  is  a  fable  by  Lafontaine : 

LE  LOUP  ET  L'AGNEAU 

La  raison  du  plus  fort  est  toujours  la  meilleure : 

Nous  Pallons  montrer  tout  a  Pheure. 

Un  agneau  se  de'salte'rait 

Dans  le  courant  d'une  onde  pure. 

Un  loup  survient  a  jeun,  qui  cherchait  aventure, 

Et  que  la  faim  en  ces  lieux  attirait. 

Qui  te  rend  si  hardi  de  troubler  mon  breuvage  ? 

Dit  cet  animal  plein  de  rage : 

Tu  seras  chati6  de  ta  temerite". 

Sire,  r6pond  Pagneau,  que  votre  majeste" 

Ne  se  mette  pas  en  colere ; 


120  DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Mais  plutftt  qu'elle  considere 

Que  je  me  vas  de'salte'rant 

Dans  le  courant, 

Plus  de  vingt  pas  au-dessous  d'elle ; 

Et  que  par  consequent,  en  aucune  fagon, 

Je  ne  puis  troubler  sa  boisson. 

Tu  la  troubles  !  reprit  cette  be'te  cruelle ; 

Et  je  sais  que  de  moi  tu  m^dis  Fan  passe". 

Comment  l'aurais-je  fait  si  je  n'e"tais  pas  n6? 

Reprit  1'agneau ;  je  tette  encore  ma  m6re. 

Si  ce  n'est  toi,  c'est  done  ton  frere. 

Je  n'en  ai  point.     C'est  done  quelqu'un  des  tiens ; 

Car  vous  ne  m'^pargnez  guere, 

Vous,  vos  bergers,  et  vos  chiens. 

On  me  1'a  dit :  il  faut  que  je  venge. 

La-dessus,  au  fond  des  forets 

Le  loup  Pemporte,  et  puis  le  mange, 

Sans  autre  forme  de  proems. 

Now  I  shall  give  the  text  of  the  same  fable 
and  indicate  where  to  take  tempo. 
I  shall  indicate  it  even  in  the  title : 

LE  LOUP  i .  ET  L'AGNEAU 

La  raison  du  plus  fort  i i  est  tou jours  la  meilleure : 

i i  Nous  1'allons  montrer  i i  tout  a  Pheure. 

i i  Un  agneau  se  d6salte"rait 

i      i  Dans  le  courant  d'une  onde  pure. 

Un  loup  survient  a  jeun,  i i  qui  cherchait  aven- 

ture, 

Et  que  la  faim  i i  en  ces  lieux  attirait. 


SCIENCE  OF  TEMPO  IN  DECLAMATION    121 

i  Qui  te  rend  si  hardi  de  trembler  mon  breu- 

vage? 
__i  Dit  cet  animal  •      •  plein  de  rage : 

_i  Tu  seras  chatie*  i i  de  ta  temerite". 

i  Sire,  i i  re'pond  1'agneau,        •  que  votre 

majest^ 
__i  Ne  se  mette  pas  en  col&re ; 

i  Mais  i i  plut6t  qu'elle  considdre 

_j  Que  je  me  vas  de'salte'rant 

_,  Dans  le  courant, 

_i  Plus  de  vingt  pas  au-dessous  d'elle ; 

__j  Et  que  i i  par  consequent,! i  en  aucune  fagon, 

_j  Je  ne  puis  troubler  sa  boisson. 

i  Tu  la  troubles !  i i  reprit  cette  bete 


cruelle  ; 

i  Et  je  sais  i  _  i  que  de  moi  i  _  i  tu  me'dis  Tan  passe". 
i  Comment  1'aurais-je  fait  i  _  i  si  je  n'etais  pas 


Reprit  1'agneau  ;  i  _  i  je  tette  encore  ma  mere. 

i  _  i  Si  ce  n'est  toi,  i  _  i  c'est  done  ton  fr&re. 

i  _  i  Je  n'en  ai  point,    i  _  i  C'est  done 

i  _  i  quelqu'un  des  tiens  ; 

Car  i  _  i  vous  ne  m'e'pargnez  gu&re, 

Vous,  i  _  i  vos  bergers,  i  _  i  et  vos  chiens. 

_  i  On  me  1'a  dit  :  i  _  i  il  faut  que  je  me 

venge. 

_  i  La-dessus,  i  _  i  au  fond  des  forets 


i i  Le  loup  1'emporte,  i i  et  puis  le  mange, 

.  Sans  autre  forme  de  procds. 

Now  I  shall  illustrate  the  taking  of  tempo 
by  another  example,  again  a  fable  of  Lafontaine. 


122   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

I  shall  give  again  the  plain  words  of  the 
text  first,  and  then  give  the  words  after  having 
inserted  my  stops.     I  shall,  however,  add  this 
time  an  indication  of  how  to  broaden  the  pro- 
nunciation of  certain  words,  how  to  puff  cer- 
tain syllables,  drag  some  there,  delay  others 
there,  for  the  sake  of  showing  that  we  can 
obtain  by  tempo  a  coloring  of  the  text  which 
corresponds  to  the  meaning  of  it,  in  this  case 
a  caustic  satire. 

The  fable : 

LE  CORBEAU   ET  LE  RENARD 

Maitre  corbeau,  sur  un  arbre  perche", 

Tenait  en  son  bee  un  fromage. 

Maitre  renard,  par  1'odeur  allechg, 

Lui  tint  a  peu  pres  ce  langage  : 

He" !  bonjour,  monsieur  du  corbeau, 

Que  vous  6tes  joli !  que  vous  me  semblez  beau  ! 

Sans  mentir,  si  votre  ramage 

Se  rapporte  a  votre  plumage, 

Vous  e"tes  le  phe'nix  des  hotes  de  ces  bois. 

A  ces  mots  le  corbeau  ne  se  sent  pas  de  joie ; 

Et,  pour  montrer  sa  belle  voix, 

II  ouvre  un  large  bee,  laisse  tomber  sa  proie. 

Le  renard  s'en  saisit,  et  dit :  Mon  bon  monsieur, 

Apprenez  que  tout  flatteur 

Vit  aux  de"pens  de  celui  qui  l'e"coute : 

Cette  lecon  vaut  bien  un  fromage,  sans  doute. 

Le  corbeau,  honteux  et  confus, 

Jura,  mais  un  peu  tard,  qu'on  ne  Py  prendrait  plus. 


SCIENCE  OF  TEMPO  IN  DECLAMATION    123 

Here  follows  the  text  of  the  same  fable  with 
indications  of  tempo  and  accents. 

LE  CORBEAU  , ,  ET  LE  RENARD 

Maitre  corbeau,  i i  sur  un  arbre  perche", 

i i  Tenait  en  son  bee  i i  un  fromage. 

i i  Maitre  renard,  i i  par  Fodeur  alleche", 

i i  Lui  tint  a  peu  pr£s  i i  ce  langage : 

i i  He"eeeeee  !  bonjouououour,  i i  mon- 
sieur du  corbeau, 

i i  Que  vous  eeeetes  joliiii !  i i   que  vous  me 

semblez  beauuuu ! 

Sans  mentir,  i i  si  votre  ramage 

i i  Se  rapporte  a  votre  pluuuuumage, 

Vous  6tes  le  phe'nix  i i  des  notes  de  ces  bois. 

i i  A  ces  mots  le  corbeau  ne  se  sent  plus  de  joie ; 

i i  Et,  i i  pour  montrer  sa  belle  voix, 

i  II  ouvre  un  laaaaarge  bee,  i i  laisse  tomber 

sa  proie. 

i i  Le  renard  s'en  saisit,  i i  et  dit:  i i  Mon 

bonnnri  monsieur, 

t  Apprenez  i i  que  tout  flatteur 

Vit  aux  d6pens  de  celui  i i  qui  I'e'coute : 

i i  Cette  lecon  i i  vaut  bien  un  fromage,  i i  sans 

doute. 

i i  Le  corbeau,  i i  honteux  et  confus, 

i i  Jura,  i i  mais  un  peu  tard,  i i  qu'on  ne  1'y 

prendrait  plus. 

It  is  of  course  understood  that  in  regard  to 
taking  tempo,  there  is  no  difference  between 


124   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

recitation  and  lyric  declamation.  You  will 
place  your  pauses  in  a  song  just  as  in  a  recita- 
tion according  to  the  sense  of  words,  according 
to  the  requirements  of  the  thought. 

Here  are  the  words  of  an  eighteenth  century 
song,  Le  roi  a  fait  battre  tambour,  in  which  I 
have  again  indicated  graphically  short  pauses 
or  pauses  of  greater  duration,  which  vivify  and 
animate  the  expression. 

LE  ROI  A  FAIT  BATTRE  TAMBOUR 

Le  roi  i i  a  fait  battre  tambour, 

Le  roi  i i  a  fait  battre  tambour, 

i i  Pour  voir  •       toutes  ses  dames ; 

i i  Et  la  premiere  qu'il  a  vu 

Lui  a  ravi  son  ame. 


Marquis,  i i  dis-moi,  i i  la  connais-tu? 

i i  Marquis,  i i  dis-moi,  i i  la  connais-tu? 

i i  Qui  est  i i  cett'joli'dame? 

i i  Le  marquis  lui  a  re"pondu : 

!***   '  Sire,  Roi,  i i  c'est  ma  femme  ! 

Marquis,  i i  tu  es  plus  heureux  qu'moi, 

i i  Marquis,  i i  tu  es  plus  heureux  qu'moi, 

i i  D'avoir  femme  si  belle ; 

i  i  Si  tu  voulais  i i  me  1'accorder, 

, — ,  Je  me  chargerais  d'elle. 

i i  Sire,  i i  si  vous  n'e"tiez  pas  le  roi, 

i i  Sire,  i i  si  vous  n'e"tiez  pas  le  roi, 

i i  J'en  tirerais  vengeance, 


SCIENCE  OF  TEMPO  IN  DECLAMATION    125 


Jr  u  "  1    m 

- 



rt^i^l  . 

1  * 

• 

f 

J 

Le     Roi       a        fait         bat      tre      tarn  -  hour 


Le     Roi       a          fait         bat      tre     tarn  -   bour 


m^ 

1  —  *  —  *~ 

u^)  

1 

p  — 

g  —  s 

—  ^— 

Pour    voir     tou  -  tes       ces       da- 


-fftft-i 

—*— 

—  — 

i 

et         la      pre    -   mie  re      qu'il       a         vu 


Lui     a       ra   -    vi       son      a 


me       ra-ta 


ICP^    < 

-*-y- 

* 

•— 

^p 

1  

plan  ra   ta   plan  ra    la    plan     plan  plan 


-p  ^  r  ^ 


plan       ra  ta  plan      ra  ta  plan    ra  ta  plan  plan  plan  plan. 


j  Mais  t      •  puisque  vous  £tes  le  roi, 
j  A  votre  ob&ssance. 


Marquis,  i i  ne  te  fache  done  pas, 


Marquis,i i  ne  te  fache  done  pas ; 


126   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

i i  T'auras  ta  recompense  ! 

i i  Je  te  ferai  i i  dans  mes  armies 

i i  Beau  mare'chal  de  France. 

Habille-toi  bien  proprement, 

i j  Habille-toi  bien  proprement, 

i i  Coiffure  a  la  dentelle ; 

i i  Habille-toi  bien  proprement, 

i i  Comme  une  demoiselle. 

Adieu,  ma  mie,  i i  adieu,  mon  cceur, 

i i  Adieu,  ma  mie,  i i  adieu,  mon  coeur, 

i i  Adieu,  i i  mon  espe"rance ; 

i i  Puisqu'il  te  faut  servir  le  roi, 

Se"parons-nous  d'ensemble. 

j  La  reine  i i  a  fait  faire  un  bouquet 


La  reine  i i  a  fait  faire  un  bouquet 

De  belles  fleurs  de  lyse 

j  Et  la  senteur  i i  de  ce  bouquet 


A  fait  mourir  marquise. 


11 

HOW  TO  ACQUIRE  FACIAL  MIMICRY 

THE  face  is  the  mirror  of  the  soul. 

Every  thought  of  our  brain,  every  stroke  of 
our  heart  might  be  reflected  in  our  face,  might 
be  seen  in  our  eyes,  on  our  lips. 

The  dramatic  artist  must  be  in  absolute 
control  of  his  face.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
he  must  mechanically  be  its  master. 

The  facial  expression  is  not  a  question  of 
muscular  skill.  It  is  the  transfiguration  of  a 
thought,  of  a  sentiment,  into  physiognomy. 
Of  course  your  eye  is  only  an  eye.  But  did 
you  ever  think  how  powerful  its  language  is, 
stronger  in  its  silent  strength  than  the  noisiest 
speech  ?  The  eyes  speak  or  are  silent,  the  eyes 
laugh  or  dream.  The  eyes  sing ;  they  welcome 
you,  or  rebuff  you,  encourage  or  discourage 
you ;  stare  at  you,  lie  to  you,  freeze  you,  dis- 
concert you,  trouble  you,  accuse  you,  defend 
you,  caress  you,  or  kill  you.  The  eyes  listen 
to  you,  question  you  and  answer  you ;  they 
brighten,  they  darken,  they  open,  they  close. 

127 


128   DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

They  dance,  vacillate,  stare.  They  are  im- 
movable. They  are  veiled,  they  fade  away, 
they  brighten  and  sparkle.  Oh,  what  an  op- 
portunity for  those  who  know  well  how  to  play 
on  such  an  instrument ! 

And  the  mouth  ? 

The  mouths  of  women  especially !  What 
expressions  can  you  not  give  them  ! 

Are  they  thin-lipped  and  pale  ?  What  charm- 
ing accent  of  refinement,  of  delicacy,  of  malice, 
of  wit,  of  discreet  tenderness,  of  mysterious 
charm,  distinguished  attractiveness. 

Are  they  thin-lipped  and  pale?  What  a 
choice  to  make !  Saint  Theresa  ?  Lady  Mac- 
beth ?  Nun  or  vampire  ? 

What  infinite  cruelties  can  they  express ! 
What  things  angelic  or  diabolical ! 

Vanity,  pride,  cupidity,  cold-hearted  stupid- 
ity, avarice.  All  can  be  expressed  by  thin,  pale 
lips.  Pointed  irony,  sharp  sarcasm.  The  whole 
of  Paradise,  the  whole  of  Hell. 

Is  the  mouth  thick-lipped  and  red  ? 

Oh,  the  good  broad  laugh ! 

Affectionate,  attractive,  hospitable,  endlessly 
tender,  the  ardent  mouth  of  the  loving,  mouth 
of  the  mother  of  inexhaustible  maternal  love ! 

Is  the  mouth  thick-lipped  and  red  ? 

Oh,  the  strong  irony  or  sparkling  one;  the 


SUSPICION 


FEAR  —  FRIGHT 


RAGING  RAGE 


CRUELTY 


THE  SMILE  OF  DOUBT 


THE  Two  APPEALS 

The  appeal  of  the  eyes  —  the 
appeal  of  the  lips. 


EXPRESSION  IN  SUSPENSE 


EXPRESSION  .  .   .  DEFINED 


Question :     You  will  come  ...  is      Answer :     Oh,  I  do  not  know  . 
it  not  ?  it  depends  ! 


SERENITY  THE  PRESENTIMENT  OF  DANGER 


MORAL  PAIN 


PHYSICAL  PAIN 


THE   FOUR   COMIC   EXPRESSIONS 


I.     GHAT 

Y  a  pas  de  mal  :\  cela,  Colinette, 
Y  a  pas  de  mal  a  cela. 

(Colinette  Song  of  the  eighteenth 
Century) 


II.     RED 

Mon  mari  est  bien  malade  ! 
Bien  malade,  Dieu  merci ! 
(La  Mort  du  Mari,  Song  of  the 
eighteenth  Century) 


III.     PURPLE 

Notre  potage  roule  dans  ses  vagues 
Tant  de  cheveux  que  chaque  mois 
Les  clients  s'en  font  faire  des 

bagues 
A  1'hotel  du  No.  3. 

(Chanson :  Latin  Quarter) 


IV.     VERMILLION 
The  Farce. 


.a 


M 
111 


HOW  TO  ACQUIRE  FACIAL  MIMICRY     129 

gentle  irony,  the  sarcasm  like  fireworks,  like 
bombs ;  thunderous  gayety. 

Is  the  mouth  thick-lipped  and  red? 

It  will  signify  gayety,  health,  kindness,  tender- 
ness, love,  broad  farce,  roaring  laughter,  carnal 
appetite,  debauchery  of  the  city  as  well  as  of 
the  village. 

Whether  it  be  the  mouth  of  a  great  lady  or 
mouth  of  a  farm  girl,  large  and  red,  thin  and 
pale,  every  woman's  mouth  is  a  surprising 
accessory  in  the  art  of  facial  mimicry. 

The  dramatic  artist  has  to  develop  the  re- 
sources of  his  face,  he  has  to  master  his  eyes 
and  his  mouth.  His  eyes  must  be  able  to 
correspond  to  the  thousand  shades  of  human 
thought,  the  mouth  must  be  under  the  control 
of  an  ever  inventive  intellectuality. 

Your  face  must  be  the  soft  clay  submitting 
to  your  will,  your  power  of  transfiguration. 


12 

ABOUT    MAGNETISM    AND    CHARM.     THE 

SOUL  THAT  MUST  ANIMATE  THE 

TRUE  ARTIST 

WHAT  is  magnetism,  what  is  charm? 

Magnetism  and  charm  are  imperative  powers 
given  to  your  personality. 

They  are  a  force  of  attractability,  which 
every  one  carries  in  himself. 

Each  of  us  has  received  by  nature  the  gift 
of  some  talent ;  our  duty  is  to  discover  which 
talent  is  ours. 

So  many  persons  born  perhaps  to  be  musi- 
cians, painters,  sculptors,  or  writers  become 
lawyers  or  bankers  because  their  fathers  were 
bankers  or  lawyers ;  and  they,  in  their  turn, 
will  be  just  as  ignorant,  or  just  as  indifferent 
towards  anything  their  children's  soul  might 
reveal. 

No  wonder  that  Humanity  is  crowded  with 
failures. 

Rare  are  those,  who  hear  their  inner  voice, 
who  are  able  to  understand  its  precious  lan- 
guage, who  are  able  to  become  aware  of  the 

130 


ABOUT  MAGNETISM  AND  CHARM        131 

rare  present,  bestowed  on  them  by  nature,  to 
become  aware  of  it  while  they  have  still  their 
whole  life  before  them  to  develop  it. 

If  nature  bestows  on  us  such  a  gift,  be  sure 
we  receive  also  the  necessary  accessories  for  its 
development. 

Again  it  is  for  us  to  find  them  out  and  to 
cultivate  them. 

God  places  in  us  that  which  is  luminous  and 
which  we  keep,  sometimes  by  sheer  ignorance, 
in  darkness. 

He  plants  in  us  that  which  is  necessary  to  be 
magnificent,  but  also  that  which  enables  us  to 
be  hideous ;  it  is  for  us  to  choose. 

The  great  French  poet,  Paul  Verlaine,  has 
shown  us  in  his  sublime  "Confessions,"  that 
the  higher  the  human  soul  strives,  the  greater 
is  the  struggle. 

The  way  to  Darkness  is  made  easier  than  the 
one  which  leads  to  Light. 

What  is  the  carrier  of  your  magnetism,  your 
charm  ? 

It  is  your  personality. 

What  is  your  personality.? 

The  essence  of  all  you  are  and  all  you  feel, 
the  combined  effect  of  body  and  soul. 

Develop  yourself  in  beauty  rather  than  in 
ugliness,  have  a  great  soul,  a  greater  heart. 


132    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

The  charm  and  magnetism  of  a  person- 
ality are  sometimes  aided  by  physical  beauty ; 
but  if  your  mouth  speaks  the  language  of 
a  beautiful  soul,  if  your  eyes  reflect  the 
sentiments  of  a  generous  heart,  the  beauty 
of  your  soul  and  heart  will  prevail  over  the 
body. 

There  are  women  on  the  stage  who  are 
magnificent  in  their  beauty,  but  who  never- 
theless lack  personality,  magnetism,  and  charm, 
because  they  lack  soul. 

What  then  is  Soul? 

The  soul  is  a  compound  of  all  our  intellectual 
faculties. 

The  soul  is  a  compound  of  all  our  intelli- 
gences —  intelligence  of  the  heart,  intelligence 
of  the  brain,  intelligence  of  manners,  intelligence 
of  taste,  intelligence  in  Art. 

An  artist's  soul  must  have  multiple  intellec- 
tual qualities. 

The  gift,  the  talent  of  an  artist,  will  be  with- 
out power,  if  his  soul  is  inferior,  if  it  has  not  all 
virtues  and  all  generosities,  if  it  is  low  and 
narrow-minded . 

We  all  know  beautiful  voices  and  really 
talented  singers  who  have  no  power  over  their 
audiences.  The  public  says :  He  or  she  is  ... 
very  clever  .  .  .  but  so  cold !  They  are  cold, 


ABOUT  MAGNETISM  AND  CHARM       133 

because  they  have  no  soul,  no  heart.  For  that 
reason  they  lack  sensitiveness. 

They  have  a  fine  instrument,  which  leaves 
you  quite  indifferent !  Why  ?  Because  you 
feel  you  are  nothing  to  them ! 

They  do  not  care  for  you,  nor  for  any  one ! 

If  you  were  in  daily  contact  with  them,  if 
you  were  their  friend  or  parent,  you  would 
find  out  that  they  are  dry,  selfish,  hard. 

The  soul  of  an  artist,  the  magnetism  and 
charm  of  his  personality  are  sometimes  more 
responsible  for  his  success  than  his  talent  alone. 

The  high  salary  paid  to  an  artist  is  not  always 
a  proof  of  his  talent ;  it  is  more  often  a  proof  of 
his  popularity,  or  a  tribute  to  his  sensationalism. 

The  success  of  an  artist  is  not  always  due  to 
the  multiple  qualities  of  his  art. 

You  remember  some  years  ago  a  monkey, 
called  Consul,  made  quite  a  sensation  on  the 
Music  Hall  stages  of  London  and  Paris.  I  re- 
member having  met  somewhere  on  a  stage  an 
"artist  "  who  was  jealous  of  Consul's  success, 
and  who  was  sincerely  in  despair  that  she  could 
not  draw  the  same  crowds  as  the  monkey. 

The  crowd  flocks,  of  course,  to  sensational 
and  cheap  popularity,  "which,  I  think,  was  so 
wonderfully  illustrated  by  Consul,  the  high- 
salaried  monkey. 


134    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

Real  art  has  a  limited  public. 

Take  a  city  like  New  York  with,  as  I  under- 
stand, five  or  six  millions  of  inhabitants.  You 
have  only  one  opera  house  and  only  two  fairly 
sized  halls  devoted  to  pure  music,  but  you  have 
dozens  and  dozens  of  palaces  devoted  to  the 
cinematograph  and  to  what  you  call  so  euphe- 
mistically "Vaudeville." 

Why? 

Because  the  public  for  real  art  is  limited  in 
number. 

Therefore  the  path  for  the  true  artist  is  not 
a  smooth  one. 

If  his  ambition  aims  higher  than  cheap  popu- 
larity, he  must  be  prepared  to  struggle  against 
ignorance,  incompetence,  indifference,  and  bad 
taste. 

The  crowd,  which  is  always  more  numerous 
than  the  intellectual  aristocracy,  is  not  yet 
ready  for  beauty.  No  nation  has  as  yet  a 
popular  elite,  a  crowd  totally  educated,  and 
the  first-class  artist  appeals  only  to  a  limited 
first-class  public.  Now,  if  it  is  a  great  soul 
which  makes  the  great  talent  of  an  artist,  the 
public,  attracted  by  this  artist,  has  certainly 
the  same  great  soul.  They  understand  each 
other,  they  love  each  other.  Each  artist  has  a 
clientele  corresponding  to  his  soul.  There  are 


ABOUT  MAGNETISM  AND  CHARM       135 

of  course  among  those  some  exceptions,  who 
will  be  disappointed  if  you  do  not  degrade  your 
talent,  your  art,  your  soul,  by  giving  them 
not  the  best,  but  the  worst  of  yourself  for  the 
sake  of  money  or  cheap  success. 

An  artist  must  resist  and  disdain  these  ap- 
proaches of  the  Devil !  An  artist  has  the  duty 
to  be  above  his  audience.  The  audience  in  a 
theater  is  like  a  crowd  in  a  church.  The  artist, 
like  the  Priest,  must  know  that  there  are  wolves 
among  the  sheep  .  .  .  and  must  not  fear  them. 

The  artist  is  loved  for  what  he  or  she  has 
created,  and  for  that  reason  the  artist  must 
not  be  impressed  by  any  outside  influence ! 
It  does  not  matter  who  gives  you  advice  on 
your  art,  don't  listen !  Remain  yourself  and 
nothing  else !  Only  the  students,  the  de- 
butantes, have  to  consider  advice.  But  when 
your  personality  has  ripened,  your  soul  de- 
veloped, close  your  ears !  Be  what  you  are ! 
Express  what  you  feel,  go  straight  to  your  aim 
of  beauty ;  reveal  in  all  you  do,  all  your  sorrow 
and  all  your  joy;  appeal  to  the  heart,  move 
the  heart  by  telling  and  expressing  your  art; 
and  let  the  public  know  by  your  art  that  you 
are  able  to  share  its  sufferings  ...  to  under- 
stand every  struggle  for  life,  love,  and  happiness. 
Make  the  public  conceive  that  you  too  are  a 


136    DRAMATIC  AND  LYRIC  INTERPRETATION 

poor  human  being  .  .  .  full  of  hope,  full  of 
deception  ...  a  poor  human  being  dreaming 
of  kindness,  of  beauty,  of  love.  Show  your 
public  all  the  precious  smiles  you  have,  hidden 
behind  your  tears,  and  let  the  public  guess  how 
you  must  have  suffered  to  be  able  to  translate 
its  own  suffering!  Hide  from  the  public  the 
effort  you  make  to  smile,  so  that  they  should 
smile.  .  .  .  Speak  to  their  hearts,  speak  to 
their  souls ! 

Speak  the  language  of  generosity,  of  pity,  of 
charity,  of  liberty,  and  purity. 
,    Rise  so  as  to  uplift  others ! 

"Give,  give,  give!"  shall  be  the  motto  of 
the  true  artist. 

Make  out  of  the  essential  human  virtues 
your  monopoly ! 

Train  yourself  to  be  exceptional : 

By  doing  for  others  what  has  not  been  done 
for  you ! 

By  giving  others  what  has  been  refused  to 
you! 

Help  each  one,  knowing  how  hard  is  the 
struggle ! 

And  with  that  soul  which  animates  you,  the 
true  artist,  you  will  animate  your  conquered 
world ! 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


Mme.  Yvette  Guilbert's  records  of  the  following  songs  treated 
in  this  book  are  made  by  the  Columbia  Graphophone  Com- 
pany of  New  York  City : 


Un  mouvement  de  curiosite 

La  16gende  de  Saint  Nicolas 

La  Glu 

Est-il  done  bien  vrai  ? 

Notre     petite     compagne     (La 

Femme !) 
Le  voyage  de  Joseph  et  Marie  a 

Bethleem 


La  defense  inutile 

Ah,    que    1' amour   cause    de 

peine! 

L'Hdtel  du  No.  3 
Ma  Grandmere 
Le  cycle  du  vin 
Le  Roi  a  fait  battre  tambour 
Le  lien  serre 


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first  issue  in  1904.  In  the  present  new  edition  it  is  brought  completely  up  to 
date.  All  the  important  and  interesting  occurrences  of  the  past  ten  years  are 
adequately  treated,  and  the  scope  of  the  work  is  expanded  to  embrace  every 
musical  activity  of  the  American  people. 


Interpretation  in  Song 


By  HARRY  PLUNKETT  GREENE 

Decorated  cloth,  I2mo,  $1.50 

Thousands  of  music  lovers  know  Mr.  Greene  as  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished platform  singers  of  his  day.  In  this  book  he  tells  something  of  the 
secret  of  his  own  success.  The  work  begins  where  others  on  the  art  of  sing- 
ing have  left  off,  with  a  study  of  interpretation.  It  has  little  to  do  with  the 
more  elementary  steps  in  a  musical  education.  The  author's  purpose,  which 
he  has  well  accomplished,  has  been  to  give  in  the  shortest  possible  form  that 
which  is  most  likely  to  prove  useful  to  the  student. 


How  to  Sing 


By  LILLI  LEHMANN.  Translated  from  the  German  by  RICHARD 
ALDRICH.  Revised  and  enlarged  edition,  with  many  illustrations. 

Cloth,  I2mo,  $2.00 

A  work  of  remarkable  value  to  the  singer,  student,  and  teacher,  in  which 
one  of  the  world's  most  famous  vocal  artists  describes  the  technical  principles 
of  her  art. 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publisher!  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  Tork 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

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MflY  3  1  1991 


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